In the fast lane: At 335,269 units, car sales create a February record

The domestic passenger vehicle (PV) industry remained on a steady growth path in February, recording a 10.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in sales. The wholesale figure of 335,269 units was the best ever for the month of February; it was 303,213 units a year ago.

At the retail level, too, the industry posted 9.6 per cent YoY growth, indicating that strong consumer demand continued in February. 

PV retail numbers came at 301,900 units in February 2023, against 275,400 units a year ago. The cumulative sales figure for April-February (2022-23) stood at 3.55 million, against 2.74 million during the corresponding year-ago period -- up 29.3 per cent.

Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer, marketing and sales of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), said the network stock in the beginning of February was around 184,000 units, which increased to 218,000 units by the end of the month. Roughly, there is stock for three weeks now.

MSIL’s domestic sales in February were 150,823 units, against 137,950 a year ago -- growth of 10.1 per cent. It sold 147,467 PVs in the domestic market last month, against 133,948 units in February 2022.

“Until February, MSIL’s total sales number was 1,508,089 units, against 1,227,712 units last year -- which is growth of 22.8 per cent,” Srivastava said. The top six highest-selling PV models in the industry in February were all from the MSIL stable,” Srivastava claimed. They were: The Baleno, Swift, Alto, WagonR, Dzire, and Brezza.

“Our overall enquiries growth was about 12 per cent in February and bookings growth was about 5 per cent,” he added.

Tata Motors, during the month under review, sold 43,140 units of PVs (including electric vehicles), registering 7 per cent YoY growth. Its key competitor Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) posted a 10 per cent rise in PV sales to 30,358 units in February, and 63 per cent growth for the April-February period to 323,256 units.

“In the utility vehicles segment, Mahindra sold 30,221 vehicles in February 2023, despite disruptions in the supply chain of crash sensors and airbag electronic control units (ECUs) due to unavailability of semiconductors,” the company said.

Veejay Nakra, president, automotive division, M&M, said: “We continue our trend of selling more than 30,000 SUVs per month and February saw growth of 10 per cent in the segment and an overall growth of 8 per cent… We are monitoring and taking appropriate steps on the supply chain scenario of semiconductors, which remains dynamic.”

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) posted a 6.7 per cent rise in domestic PV sales to 47001 units.

Tarun Garg, chief operating officer, HMIL said: “The newly launched Hyundai IONIQ 5, TUCSON, Grand i10 NIOS, and AURA continue to create excitement in the Indian market space and receive tremendous customer response. Moreover, Hyundai CRETA building on its strong legacy has set a benchmark registering sales of 830,000 units since inception.”

Its peer Kia India sold 24,600 units in February 2023. The company recorded 35.8 per cent YoY growth over 18,121 units sold in the corresponding month last year. The Kia Sonet was the top contributor with 9,836-unit despatches, followed by the Seltos with 8,012-unit sales.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) sold 15,338 units last month, up 75 per cent from 8,745 units in the same month last year. “Leading this growth are the Urban Cruiser Hyryder and All New Innova Hycross, as we strive to work with our partners to meet the demand. The recent announcement of the opening of bookings for the Toyota Hilux is also continuing to generate excitement, resulting in good orders from across the country,” said Atul Sood, vice-president, sales and strategic marketing, TKM.

MG Motors, however, posted a 7.4 per cent decline in sales to 4,193 units in February. Honda Cars India, too, posted a decline -- selling only 6,086 units in February 2023, compared to 7,187 units in February 2022.