March 2023 was a profitable month for the Indian automotive market. With the ease of the semi-conductor shortage, the car sales increased at the fastest rate in over a decade at 27 percent. The domestic market witnessed its highest ever sales, which was fuelled by the high demand of SUVs. India’s leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki registered its highest ever sales of 19.66 lakh units in fiscal year 2022-23. It includes sales of 17.07 lakh units in the domestic market and 2.59 lakh units of exports.
Maruti Suzuki’s cumulative growth in FY 2022-23 stood at 15.9 percent as opposed to the total sales of FY 2021-22. The carmaker recorded YoY (year-on-year) growth of 20.5 precent in the domestic market.
In March 2023, the Indo-Japanese automaker clocked sales of 1,70,071 units (domestic + export) against 1,70,395 units in the same month previous year. Despite sales dip, the company witnessed high demand for the Brezza, Grand Vitara, Ertiga and XL6.
Tata Motors says that the company “scaled a new sales peak by posting its highest-ever annual domestic sales of 5,38,640 units, achieving a robust 45 percent sales growth over FY22 and registering its third successive year of industry-beating growth.” The carmaker’s Nexon, Punch, Harrier and Safari SUVs registered their highest ever annual sales with a significant 66 percent contribution in the total sales.
In March 2023, the home-grown automaker posted sales of 44,044 units against 42,293 units in the corresponding month last year, accounting a growth of 4 percent. Its exports’ figure stood at 181 units against 173 units in March 2022. Tata Motors continued to lead the electric vehicle (EV) segment with total sales of 6,509 units.
Mahindra & Mahindra retailed 35,976 units of SUVs and total sales of 66,091 units (which highest ever) in March 2023. It registered 31 percent growth in the SUV segment and a total sales growth of 21 percent. The Pune-based automaker managed to sell 3,59,253 units in FY 2022-23 against 2,25,895 units in FY 2021-22, registering a 60 percent growth.
