Jan PV wholesale up 17.2% on better demand, sentiment: SIAM

The country's wholesale passenger vehicles (PV) sales volume rose 17.2% in January 2023 led by a rise in demand for utility vehicles and better consumer sentiments. The auto wholesalers’ body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) today said the wholesale PV volume increased to a record high of 298,093 units in January 2023 as compared to 2,54,287 units dispatched to the dealers in the same month last year.

Two-wheeler sales were at 11,84,379 units in January 2023, up 3.81% from the year-ago period, primarily due to slow demand in rural areas. A total of 48,903 units of three-wheelers were dispatched to the dealers in the said month, said SIAM.

In the April 2022-January 2023 period, the passenger vehicle sales stood at 31,69,788 units, while the three-wheeler sales were at 3,84,026 and the two-wheeler sales stood at 1,34,41,873 units. "Better consumer sentiments is driving demand for Passenger Vehicles. The three-Wheeler segment has gained traction compared to the past two years, though they are still to reach the pre-Covid levels,” said Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM.

According to Aggarwal, the rate of growth of two-wheelers in the recent year has not kept pace with the growth in the other segments. "Positive announcements at the Union Budget should help in continuing with the overall growth momentum."

Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM, said passenger vehicles again saw the highest ever sales in January and for the first time, it has crossed the 3 million sales mark in 10 months, from April to January period. "Sales of L5 category three-wheeler more than doubled in January 2023, compared to January 2022, while Two-Wheelers posted a marginal growth of just around 4% in the month of January 2023, compared to January 2022.”

Notably, BMW, Mercedes, Tata Motors and Volvo Auto wholesale data is not included in the SIAM monthly data.

The SIAM data on auto dispatches for January comes days after the national auto retailers' body FADA (Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association) reported the passenger vehicle (PV) segment grew 22% year-on-year in January at 3.40 lakh units as compared to 2.79 PV units sold in the year-ago period.

In the PV segment, the country's largest carmakers Maruti Suzuki Ltd and Hyundai Motor emerged as the top sellers in January, selling 1,50,046 and 45,799 units, respectively, and had a market share of 44.10% and 13.46%, respectively.

The 2-wheeler category also grew 10% YoY but, when compared to 2021 and the pre-Covid month of January’20, it saw pressure, falling 7% and 13%. In the two-wheeler category, Hero Motocorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, and TVS Motor Company topped the sale chart in January 2022, commanding market shares of 30.98%, 22.46%, 15.71% and 12.22%, respectively.

India's automobile industry seeing major technological transitions, especially with respect to emissions and safety, as per ratings agency IRCA. It expects 20-30% of new vehicle sales to be CNG, EVs, and hybrids over the next five years. However, petrol-powered vehicles would dominate new PV sales in the medium-term.