Rural India drives passenger vehicle sales record in FY24
NEW DELHI : Rural India emerged as the driving force behind the record-breaking sales of passenger vehicles in FY24, which crossed the 4-million-mark for the first time in a year, despite the demand for hatchbacks that have typically dominated car purchases in the countryside continuing to slide. In FY24, a total 4.23 million passenger vehicles were sold in India, rising 8.7% from 3.89 million units the previous year, which was also a record. One in every two of these vehicles sold last fiscal year was a sports utility vehicle, or an SUV, a segment that saw the sharpest growth of 28% in FY24, while sales of hatchbacks, or small, mini or compact cars, accounted for 28% of the industry’s total sales, declining 12% from the year before.
Major passenger vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) saw all-time-high sales in their rural markets in FY24, overtaking urban markets where SUVs are highly preferred. “Rural sales of 7.87 lakh units this year, a growth of 11% year-on-year, have been much better than urban growth. Rural growth for the year is about 11% and urban growth is about 7%.
And so, this is the highest-ever rural sales that we saw, which also should be a very good signal for the economy," Shashank Srivastava, executive committee member, Maruti Suzuki, said. Tarun Garg, chief operating officer, Hyundai Motor India, attributed the surge in rural sales to multiple factors such as infrastructure development, increased access to information, and improved road quality. “In rural India, we currently have 562 touchpoints out of our total of 1,363 sales points.
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