India trumps Germany, UK to become the fourth largest auto market in the world

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India sold more automobiles than Brazil and South Korea put together beating even Germany and the UK to emerge as the world’s fourth largest vehicle market.

The country clocked total sales of 1.64 million units during January-May this year to clinch the fourth spot beating European heavyweight Germany which saw sales of 1.60 million units during the same period.

China, US and Japan continue to dominate the top three spots, selling 11.18 million, 5.43 million and 2.30 million, respectively. China remained the biggest consumer of automobiles despite a slowing economy.

According to data shared by the country’s apex lobby body the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) India logged the highest growth amongst the top nine countries in passenger vehicle (PV) sales.

While India’s PV sales grew by 11.3 percent during the period Japan stood second with a growth of 9.05 percent. Sales of China and the US fell by 2.59 percent and 9.83 percent, respectively, during the same period.

Lower penetration levels, improving road network, greater buying abilities and addition of several new models have led the Indian market to beat its peers in growth in new car sales.

In India there are only 32 vehicles per 1000 people compared to around 800 vehicles per 1,000 people in the US, formerly the world’s biggest vehicle market. This gives a lot of headroom for growth for future. But unlike the developed markets especially of the west India's passenger vehicle demand is dominated by sub-Rs 10 lakh compact cars.

With traditional players like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors and new players like Peugeot, Kia, SAIC and Daihatsu lining up fresh investments for adding new capacities India’s automotive market is set to hit new highs every year.

As per Suzuki Motor Corporation expectations India’s car market will become the third biggest in the world by 2020. As per estimates India’s passenger vehicle demand will grow to more than 6 million units by 2020. Presently, India is the fifth largest car market with sales of 3.04 million units last financial year, as per SIAM data.

India would have even gone past US and Japan if its commercial vehicle sales did not hit a speed bump. Commercial vehicle demand has been on a roller coaster ride since the past few years thanks to a number of factors including regulatory changes.

In luxury cars India is one of the smallest markets in the world. At under 35,000 units annually India pales in comparison to China which saw more than 1.65 million units sales of luxury cars last year.

However, India is one of the handful of countries who can boast of a manufacturing facility of all the luxury car makers. Manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar Land Rover have a manufacturing presence in the country.