Strong customer demand over the holiday season and the introduction of new Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) like the Honda Elevate, Citroen C3 Aircross, Tata Nexon (facelifted version), etc. helped India’s auto sales hit record highs in September. According to industry estimates, automakers shipped about 3,63,733 units in September, setting a record for the biggest monthly sales in the domestic passenger vehicle (PV) market’s history.
The monthly totals for September exceeded the 3,60,700 vehicles that automakers shipped in August. Sales increased 2.4 percent year over year (YoY) from 3,55,353 units sold in September 2022.
Sales reached an all-time high of 10,76,000 units during July and September 2023. Carmakers sold 20,72,957 units in the first half of current fiscal year, breaking the two million unit barrier for the first time. Furthermore, the PV industry’s three million sales threshold was first crossed between January and September.
Maruti Suzuki, the largest automaker in the nation, saw a 2.8 percent increase in total sales in September, with 1,81,343 vehicles sold. Domestic sales of 1,53,106 units, sales to other OEMs of 5,726 units, and exports of 22,511 units make up the total sales for the month.
According to Maruti Suzuki’s Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, Shashank Srivastava, PV sales growth has been “muted” as a result of a higher base year-ago.
According to him, the beginning of the holiday season in the western part of India and better SUV availability are the main causes of the increase in numbers (during September). Most manufacturers have overcome the semiconductor (supply) problem, which has enabled them to create a large number of SUVs, which they previously found challenging to do, including Maruti Suzuki.
In a similar vein, Hyundai Motor India reported its highest-ever monthly sales in September, up 13 percent YoY to 71,641 units. The second-largest automaker in the nation had sent 63,201 vehicles to dealers in September of the previous year.
Domestic sales for the corporation increased to 54,241 units last month, up from 49,700 units in September 2022 by 9%.
