February wholesale figures (dispatches from factories) of the passenger car business maintains the same status quo as the previous month with the big three – Maruti-Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata staying on top. This despite generally lesser volumes than in January – partly also due to lesser number of days in the month.
At 1.47 lakh units sold, Maruti continued is one-sided dominance of the Indian car business followed by Hyundai at 47,001 followed by Tata at 42,865. The latter in the process also clocked the landmark 50-lakh production volume in India since it began this part of its automotive business back in 1998.
| Manufacturer | Feb 23 (Units) | Feb 22 (Units) | Growth |
| Maruti Suzuki | 1,47,467 | 1,33,948 | 10 % |
| Hyundai | 47,001 | 44,050 | 7 % |
| Tata | 42,865 | 39,980 | 7 % |
| Mahindra & Mahindra | 30,221 | 27,563 | 10 % |
| Kia | 24,600 | 18,121 | 36 % |
| Toyota | 15,323 | 8,745 | 75 % |
| Honda | 6,086 | 7,187 | -15 % |
| MG India | 4,193 | 4,528 | -7 % |
| Skoda | 3,418 | 4,503 | -24 % |
| Renault | 6,616 | 6,568 | 1 % |
| Volkswagen | 3,313 | 4,028 | -18 % |
| Nissan | 2,184 | 2,456 | -11 % |
| Others | 1,245 | 1,079 | 15 % |
| Total | 3,34,532 | 3,02,756 | 10 % |
Mahindra and Kia complete the top 5 for February.
Apart from the brands mentioned above, only Toyota Kirloskar manages sales in five-digit figures in February.
Compared to sales in the same period last year, the brand to show the highest growth was Toyota. The Japanese car maker sold just over 15,200 units, which was more than double of its volumes in February 2022. The reason being the phenomenal success of the Urban Cruiser Hyryder and the Innova Hycross.
Kia was the other brand to score on growth. The Korean major’s dream run continues with models such as Carens adding to its tally substantially.
While February was generally low compared to January for everyone, some brands bucked the trend. These included Maruti-Suzuki, Toyota, MG and Volkswagen. On paper the biggest was however Renault which had locked less than normal numbers in January owing to the delay in its BS6 Phase 2 transition. With that complete in February, it is now back to 6,000 monthly volumes.
Industry watchers predict a cautious March too as volumes will remain more or less stable.
