- Tata Motors sold approx. 12785 units this year as compared to 14260 units last year (excluding commercial vehicle sales)
- Honda Cars sold 13139 units in last year December as compared to merely 8412 in 2019. 197 cars were exported.
- Hyundai Motors sold 37953 units in December 2019 as compared to 42903 in December 2018. Numbers include domestic sales only.
- MG Motors a new entrant in the automobile sector sold 3021 units of Hector SUV in December 2019. Overall the automaker sold approx. 15930 units since July 2019.
- Mahindra & Mahindra’s domestic sales jumped to 49193 units but exports were merely 2703 units.
From luxury to a necessity, cars have become a vital part of our life. Family’s basic requirements include a home, food to eat and a car (or cars) for ease of transportation. But it seems like people were reluctant to purchase a 4-wheeler.
2019 was the worst year for the automobile industry in the past 2 decades. Sale of passenger vehicles fell below 3 million marks for the first time since 2016.
According to the sales report released in December 2019, amongst leading passenger vehicle (PV) carmakers, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra showed positive growth and others were seen struggling. 7 out of 15 PV carmakers showed the segment grew merely by 2.8%.
The reason for such marginal growth is probably due to heavy discounts and a low base in the corresponding month last year. It was majorly Maruti Suzuki whose contribution took the entire segment to positive numbers.
Out of all prominent players, Maruti Suzuki proved to be a savior for the automobile industry by selling 133296 units (including exports) in December 2019 as compared to 128338 units last year. Total exports were 7561 units, a straight 10.2% growth from the previous year.
One prominent reason for the decline in sales is due to stricter emission norms rolled out by the government of India. Clear instruction is given to chuck off all their BS-IV units and replace them with BS-VI. That proved to be a fight for carmakers (at least for this year).
Segment leader Maruti Suzuki has quite a few models of BS-VI compliant and contributed 2.4% growth during December month. With models like Alto, WagonR, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire & Ciaz, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza & Ertiga 2019 was a satisfactory year for them.
But other carmakers struggled to introduce BS-VI compliant vehicles which were another reason for moderate growth in the sector. Mahindra & Mahindra launched BS-VI compliant XUV-300 and saw a 4% increase in vehicle sales.
The year 2019 didn’t prove to be overwhelming for many carmakers. Reason being rolling out of BS-IV complaints and introducing BS-VI. Those who managed to introduce BS-VI fuel vehicles, they were comfortably selling their vehicles.
2020 will be an interesting year for the automobile sector. With new entrants, year on year increases in online sales of automobiles and coming up with BS-VI complaints, carmakers have a lot to cope up.
For now, the first-mover advantage goes to Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra.
