Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported their highest-ever dispatches to dealers last fiscal, enabling the domestic passenger vehicle industry to log in best-ever performance to date.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported its highest wholesales to date at 19,66,164 units, up 19 per cent from 16,52,653 units in 2021-22.
Its domestic dispatches rose to 17,06,831 units in 2022-23, up 21 per cent from 14,14,277 units in 2021-22 fiscal.
Hyundai Motor India said its overall wholesales last fiscal were the highest ever since commencing operations in the country.
The automaker dispatched 7,20,565 units to dealers last fiscal, up 18 per cent from 6,10,760 units in 2021-22. Its domestic dispatches rose to 5,67,546 units last fiscal, up 18 per cent from 4,81,500 units in the 2021-22 financial year.
The country's second-largest carmaker said it was its best performance to date in terms of sales volume in the domestic market in a financial year.
Tata Motors also reported the best-ever passenger vehicle dispatches in the domestic market last fiscal at 5,38,640 units, up 45 per cent from 3,70,372 units FY22.
Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Shashank Srivastava said the company reported its highest-ever sales in a financial year despite chip shortage continuing to impact the production activity.
He noted that the overall industry sales last fiscal rose to 38.89 lakh units, an increase of 27 per cent from 30.69 lakh units in 2021-22. "Both wholesales and retails were the highest for the industry last fiscal," Srivastava said.
The industry sales were expected to rise to 4.05-4.10 million in the current fiscal, he added.
"We expect the industry growth to be in the range of 5-7 per cent this fiscal and the company would like to perform better than the industry," Srivastava said.
He noted that with models like Jimny and Fronx in its kitty, the company expects to corner 25 per cent of the SUV market in the current fiscal. MSI ended the last fiscal with a market share of 12.6 per cent in the SUV segment with sales of 2,02,800 units.
The company, which has discontinued its entry-level model Alto 800 citing affordability factor, said the SUV segment continues to outpace others with a contribution of 43 per cent in the overall domestic passenger vehicle industry.
Srivastava noted that the contribution of the hatchback segment has come down to 35 per cent last fiscal from 46 per cent in 2016-17.
"Affordability has been hit and it has affected the uptake in this segment. If the income levels go up, we can hope for it to make a comeback. Even now the top best-selling cars in the country are hatchbacks," he said.
Srivastava noted that the chip shortage would continue to impact the industry for the next few quarters. MSI's total order backlog stood at around 3.8 lakh units, with Ertiga leading in terms of pending bookings, he added.
Srivastava confirmed that the company would have a certain production loss in the fourth quarter due to supply constraints. The company had a production loss of around 46,000 units in the third quarter.
Replying to a query, Srivastava noted that the company has taken a price hike of around 0.8 per cent from April.
Hyundai reported domestic dispatches of 5,67,546 units last fiscal, up 18 per cent from 4,81,500 units in the 2021-22 financial year.
Exports rose 18 per cent year on year to 1,53,019 units.
"FY 22-23 has been a phenomenal year for the company, as we introduced seven segment-defining products like the all-new Hyundai Tucson, new Venue, Venue N Line, all electric IONIQ 5, new Grand i10 NIOS, new AURA and the all-new Verna catering to different segments thus giving a strong push to brand Hyundai amongst new-age Indian customers," Hyundai Motor India COO Tarun Garg said in a statement.
Despite global headwinds, the company sees momentum in the Indian auto industry to continue, he added.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Managing Director Shailesh Chandra stated noted that the steep growth witnessed by the industry was driven by post-COVID pent-up demand in the early part of the year, the launch of several new vehicles and easing of the semiconductor shortage.
While SUVs and EVs led this growth, customers' rising preference for safe vehicles and smart technology features was equally pronounced, he added.
Tata Motors scaled a new sales peak by posting its highest-ever annual domestic sales of 5,38,640 units, achieving a robust 46 per cent sales growth over FY22 and registering its third successive year of industry-beating growth, Chandra said.
"Looking ahead, we expect the demand for personal vehicles to remain robust with the trend of electrification further strengthening as more options are made available to customers plus support from a rapidly growing and improving ecosystem," he said.
However, the growth rate of the passenger vehicle industry may moderate due to a strong base effect as well as macro factors including hardening interest rates, rising inflation, and the cost impact from progressive regulatory norms, he added.
"We continue to stay agile, carefully monitoring the supply situation, particularly semiconductors and any potential waves of Covid," Chandra said.
Kia India said its sales stood at 2,69,229 units last fiscal, a growth of 44 per cent over 1,86,787 units in 2021-22. The company reported its highest-ever market share of 7.4 per cent in Q4 of FY23.
"Our focus on offering futuristic design, combined with cutting-edge technology, has helped us in winning the Indian market and new-age customers alike. With additional features and improvements in engine and transmission combinations in RDE-compliant vehicles, we are confident that we will continue our winning spree," Kia India VP and Head of Sales & Marketing Hardeep Singh Brar said.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported a 41 per cent increase in wholesales for FY23. It sold 1,74,015 units last fiscal as compared with 1,23,770 units in 2021-22.
"The passenger vehicles segment witnessed a steady growth last year, and TKM was prepared to ride the wave by making deeper inroads into the market to meet the varied mobility needs," TKM Vice President, Sales and Strategic Marketing Atul Sood said.