Indian Uber luxury car market on a superhighway cruise

Multi-millionaires and billionaires, whose ranks have swelled, have been snapping up ultra-luxury cars handcrafted by skilled craftsmen. With the pandemic nearing its end, the YOLO (you only live once) culture is ensuring the super luxury car market gains momentum.

Though relatively small when compared to markets like the US and China, the super luxury car market in India is growing phenomenally with increasing demand for high-end vehicles from wealthy consumers.

The size of the uber luxury car market (each costing Rs 2 crore and above) in 2022 was 450 units and is expected to grow to around 582 units with 30 percent year-on-year growth in 2023, says market research firm TechSci Research.

“The high import duties and taxes on luxury cars in India can make them quite expensive, but this has not deterred consumers who are willing to pay for the luxury and prestige associated with owning a super luxury car,” said Karan Checi, research director at TechSci Research, management consulting firm.

Industry players remain super upbeat 

Some of the global brands in this segment such as Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley and Porsche witnessed all-time high sales in 2022 and are anticipating robust sales this year too.

Lamborghini Automobili, which commenced its operations in 2007 in India with a single dealer, has sold 400 units till date.

The Italian super luxury sports car and SUV maker grew by more than 30 percent over 2021 and delivered 92 cars in the Indian market last year. Its previous best-ever sales in the country were in 2021 with 69 units. Prior to that , its best numbers were in 2019 when it sold 52 units.

“Earlier the demand was largely concentrated in metros and the Tier 1 & 2 cities were contributing in single digits to our business volumes. Today these cities contribute 25 percent of our business. Also, the demand used to be largely from third or fourth-generation business entrepreneurs till a few years back, now we are witnessing increasing demand from first- and second-generation business entrepreneurs,” said Sharad Agarwal, head of Lamborghini India.

The Sant'Agata Bolognese-based carmaker is now looking to cross the century mark in sales in the Indian market this year on the back of the record performance in 2022.

The company, which sells a range of super luxury cars with prices starting from Rs 3.8 crore in India, is also bringing to the country this year its first hybrid car after it makes its global debut in the first quarter of 2023.

“From founders of successful start-ups to an increasing share of women buyers, the demand pool for Supercar buyers has grown immensely over the past few years. These are encouraging trends and we are excited to unlock the future potential of our expanding target market and business in India,” added Agarwal.

Porsche India too witnessed its best ever sales performance in 2022 with a 64 percent growth in sales over the previous year. In total, 779 retail sales were recorded in the year compared with 474 units during the previous year, which was at the time Porsche India’s best result since 2014.

Manolito Vujicic, Brand Director, Porsche India, said the strong result shows the upward trajectory that started in in 2021 was maintained through 2022.

“It has been a strong year for Porsche India with a 69 percent growth in the sales of our SUV models, highlighted by our top-selling model, the Porsche Cayenne, ending the year with 399 retail units,” said Vujicic.

Bentley, which recently launched the EWB (Extended Wheelbase) edition of its Bentayga SUV, is aiming for  40 percent sales growth this year to 60 units thanks to a new set of young buyers who are adding to their customer base.

“We see a lot of younger people worldwide because Bentley cars are getting more younger and cater to younger people who are more technology driven.  We see a lot of first-generation based customers also wanting to reward themselves with high-end cars. We see a lot of them also coming to buy our products. We get about nearly 40 percent to 50 percent new customers who are first-time Bentley buyers.”

When asked about growth potential of the ultra-luxury car segment in the country, Bagla said: "The segment is growing and the only stumbling block is high import duties which somehow impede the growth of the vertical. Gradually we hope the government will rationalise it going further. Once that happens, we can even sell 1,000 units per annum.”​