FADA shared vehicle retail data for the month of July 2022 revealing that overall numbers were down 7.84% year-on-year. FADA’s data showed sales for three-wheelers and commercial vehicles grew year-on-year though sales of passenger vehicles and two-wheelers were down as compared to July 2021. PV sales were down 4.66% vis-à-vis July 2021 though, compared to pre-pandemic 2019, numbers were up a notable 19.07%. Two-wheeler sales meanwhile remained in the red, down 10.92% over July 2021 and down 27.86% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Commenting on how July’22 performed, FADA President, Vinkesh Gulati said, “Continuing with our quest of a deeper insight in Auto Retail figures, FADA for the first time has released 3W sub-segment retail figures. After the breakup of the CV segment, the 3W sub-segmentation will help all the stakeholders understand the 3W market in much detail. Auto Retail for the month of July’22 fell by -8%. July is generally considered as a lean month before the festival season hits in August. When compared with July’19, a pre-covid month, total vehicle retails fell by -20%. PV and Trac continued to outperform by growing 19% and 7%. All the other categories were in red with 2W, 3W and CV falling by -28%, -15% and -4% respectively.”
Focusing on the passenger vehicle segment Maruti Suzuki continued to lead the manufacturers in sales though as per FADA’s data the company’s market share shrunk from 43.54% in July 2021 to 39.17% in 2022. Maruti’s sales for the month stood at 98,318 units followed by Hyundai at 40,056 – both down from their reported sales from July 2021. Tata Motors (36,048 units) meanwhile gained market share in the month with a 14.36% market share in July 2022 as against 9.54% in July 2021. Mahindra and Kia rounded out the top 5.
“The PV segment is witnessing a dream run as retail sales are already higher than 2019. Even though there is a blip in July numbers, the industry is continuously introducing new models especially in Compact SUV segment. Along with this, a better supply in coming months will help in bringing down customer anxiety due to large waiting period. We also urge all PV OEMs to recalibrate their supplies as per the market demand and avoid pushing low moving stocks,” Gulati said.
In the two-wheeler market, Hero MotoCorp continued to lead the pack with sales of over 3.20 lakh in July 2022, down from 4 lakh units the year before. Honda took second place with over 2.60 lakh units retailed followed by TVS at a little over 1.65 lakh units. Bajaj and Suzuki Motorcycles rounded out the top 5 with sales of 93,755 and 43,993 units respectively.
“The 2W retail run witnessed poor demand as Rural India continues to under-perform. This coupled with high inflation, erratic monsoon and high cost of ownership continues to keep bottom of the pyramid customers at bay,” Gulati said.
In the three-wheeler space, it was primarily the electric segments that saw the highest growth with numbers growing year-on-year compared to July 2021 as well as to pre-pandemic levels.
For the near term, FADA said that it remained cautiously optimistic for the upcoming festive season with semi-conductor shortages likely to again become a major issue for the industry owing to the current situation between China and Taiwan.
