PV sales surge 10% in March at 3.7 lakh units, breach 4.2 million mark in FY24

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The domestic Passenger Vehicle (PV) market remained robust during the entire fiscal as the total wholesale numbers rose 8.7 percent in March to 370,381 units on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, according to industry insiders. This was the 15th consecutive month of the highest ever monthly volumes. The total PV dispatches during March 2023 stood at 336,566 units.

For the fiscal year 2023-24, the total despatches by carmakers to dealerships stood at 42,29,566 units. That would be an 8.7 percent increase from 38,90,114 cars sold in FY23, as per industry data. The robust sales performance cemented India's position as the world's third-largest PV market in a financial year.

Car sales at Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), etc., are on an uphill drive thanks to improved semiconductor supplies, robust demand for Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), healthy economic growth,  favourable monsoon, and effective monetary policies.

At 50.4 percent, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) have contributed more than half of the passenger vehicle market in a year.

PV market leader Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s  (MSIL) sales went up by 15 percent at 152,718 units in  March 2024, vis-a-vis 132,763 units in the same month last year. For the entire financial year, MSIL’s total sales stood at 16,06,870 units (of PVs) which is 9.5 percent more than FY 2022-23. The company revealed that it managed to register 2 million units of cumulative sales (domestic +OEM sales+ exports) mark during FY 2023-24.

“Since we grew faster than the (PV) industry, our marketshare in March increased by 2 percent and by 0.4 percent to reach 42 percent by fiscal-end, said Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales), MSIL.

He went on to add, “This is also the highest ever SUV sales for Maruti. The Construct of the market is clearly in favour of SUVs and our marketshare in that segment nearly doubled to 21 percent last fiscal .” He also revealed that out of its total sales, nearly 25.5 percent of our sales are derived from SUVs.

He also revealed that MSIL’s rural sales have been much better at 7.87 lakh units than urban growth. “Rural (market) growth is 11.7 percent than urban growth is about 7 percent. It is a good signal for the economy. The biggest growth driver is the economy itself. The correlation between auto sales numbers and economic per capita income is huge,” further added Srivastava.

HMIL revealed that it saw a 5 percent increase in domestic sales to 53,001 units last month, from 50,600 units in the year-ago period. During last fiscal, the south Korean car major dispatched 6,14,721 units to its dealers, an increase of 8 percent, as against 5,67,546 units in FY 2022-23.

Tata Motors revealed that the sales of passenger vehicles, including electric vehicles EVs), in the domestic market, were at 50,297 units in March as compared to 44,225 units in the same period last year, up 14 percent.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Managing Director Shailesh Chandra stated that in FY24, the company’s passenger vehicles (including EVs), posted its third consecutive year of highest ever sales with wholesales of 5,73,495 units (up 6 percent vs FY23) and retail sales growing around 10 percent vs FY23.

“Going forward, we expect the demand for passenger cars to remain strong, although the high base effect may keep the growth rate in single digit. Customers’ rising preference for safe and green vehicles should result in double digit growth for sale of cars with emission-friendly powertrains supported by new launches and a stronger value proposition - emission-friendly, lower total cost of ownership and equipped with smarter features,” noted Chandra.

M&M’s total  dispatches to its dealers stood at 66,041 units in March 2023.  The Mumbai-based auto major's passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market rose 13 percent to 40,631 units last month against 35,997 units in March last year, the auto major said in a statement.

For 2023-24 fiscal, the automaker reported 28 percent increase in passenger vehicle wholesales at 4,59,877 units as against 3,59,253 units in 2022-23 financial year.

TKM’s total dispatches to dealers increased 25 percent last month to 22,910 units as compared with 21,783 units in March 2023. For the 2023-24 fiscal the company reported the highest-ever wholesales of 2,63,512 units, an increase of 48 percent as against 1,77,683 units in 2022-23.