Fantastic four - Hyundai, Tata, M&M and Toyota - fire up Motown, drive into record books
car sales, only four companies — Hyundai, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota — hit new highs, amid weak demand at the lower end of the market. Market leader Maruti Suzuki got to 1.71 million units, but that was still short of its pre-Covid record of 1.73 million units registered in 2018.
Honda reported sales of 84,289 units last year, significantly lower than its peak volume of 202,403 units in 2015. Volkswagen sold 43,481 units, short of its high of 66,783 units in 2012.
Renault-Nissan too was a long distance away from its previous sales record in 2016. Overall, 4.1 million vehicles were sold in the local market in 2023, up 8.2% from the year before. The five-year compounded annual growth rate up to 2023 was 4.2%.
Vehicle penetration in India — 31-32 per 1,000 persons — is among the lowest in major car markets.
Prices have shot up 25-30% in the last three-four years, outpacing growth in the income levels of consumers at the lower end of the market, said Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer, marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki.
That's impacted affordability and thus sales of small cars, once the mainstay of the market. Critically, the market profile has been shifting with younger buyers moving toward sports utility vehicles (SUVs) — or cars that look like them — as aspirations change. Small, entry-level cars are not popular with such buyers.
«The share of hatchbacks declined to 30% last year, from 47.4% five years back,» said Srivastava.
