Carmakers take cautious approach in July amid subdued demand, await festive cheer

The domestic PV volumes registered a growth in July 2025. (Representative Image)

The domestic passenger vehicle (PV) segment continued to grapple with soft demand, as volumes increased by only 1% year-on-year (y-o-y) in July 2025, even as carmakers like Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors, and Toyota Kirloskar Motor witnessed a decline.

While the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, steered back on track after two consecutive months of headwinds, homegrown SUV major Mahindra & Mahindra continued its strong drive last month.

Although the PV wholesales in the domestic market climbed 1.16% y-o-y at 3,48,000 units in July 2025, their retails were almost flat at 3,28,000 units, according to industry data.

For reference, the carmakers usually share their wholesale data, which shows vehicle despatches to the dealerships, and not the figures on retail sales to the customers.

Domestic PV Wholesales: July 2025 vs July 2024

With Maruti calibrating despatches to its dealerships, the company's PV wholesales remained flat at 1,37,776 units in July 2025. The company now has a network stock of 36-37 days.

"We do not want to increase the network stock at our dealer-end," the company's Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, Partho Banerjee, said, adding that we calibrated our despatches in May and June also. The WagonR-maker's volumes dropped 5.58% y-o-y in May 2025 and 13.31% y-o-y in June 2025.

Model-wise, Maruti sold 20,895 units of the Dzire sedan, 16,600 units of the Ertiga MPV and 14,700 units of the WagonR hatchback during the month. While the carmaker's CNG volumes have jumped by 11.5% y-o-y this fiscal, the CNG penetration was at 40% in July 2025.

"There is a good growth in bookings, to the tune of 7% across the country, and it is a positive sign. We are quite confident of green shoots in the industry as the festive season will start with Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi this month," Banerjee observed.

With a strong demand for its internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric SUVs, such as the Scorpio-N, Thar Roxx, XUV 3XO, XUV700, BE 6 and XEV 9e, Mahindra witnessed a 19.82% y-o-y rise in PV volumes at 49,871 units in July 2025.

"Our SUV growth has been supported by the recent launch of XUV 3XO 'REVX' series and the commencement of deliveries for Pack Two variants of the BE 6 and the XEV 9e models," said Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO, Automotive Division, Mahindra.

The Creta-maker, Hyundai, posted a decline of 10.28% y-o-y in PV volumes at 43,973 units in July 2025. "While the overall auto industry has seen some softness in recent months, we remain optimistic with the onset of the festive season and are fully geared up with robust supply and exciting product offerings," the company's Whole-Time Director and Chief Operating Officer, Tarun Garg, said.

However, Garg opined that Hyundai is well-positioned to adapt to market movements owing to its new Talegaon plant. The company will start manufacturing vehicles at the facility, which it acquired from General Motors, from the third quarter of the current fiscal.

Tata's PV volumes, including the electric models, slipped 11.63% y-o-y at 39,521 units in July 2025. Toyota also registered a decline of 1.27% y-o-y in PV wholesales at 29,159 units during the month.

Domestic PV Wholesales: July 2025 vs July 2024

Primus Partners Advisor Anurag Singh said that the inventory levels remain high at dealerships and manufacturers have had a mild restraint in pushing more vehicles to them. "The feedback from dealers is that the enquiries have come down and the customers are taking longer to close deals. We expect muted domestic sales performance to continue in the short term," he added.