SIAM Sales February 2023: Domestic Auto Sales Up 10 %; Exports Slide 35%

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) revealed that the Indian auto industry posted a 10 per cent growth in domestic sales for the month of February 2023. The growth in sales came on the back of a strong showing by the passenger vehicle (PV) segment which at 2,91,928 units – up 11 per cent - posted a new best-ever number for February. Exports and vehicle production however painted a different picture with both categories seeing a year-on-year decline. Exports were down by 35 per cent while production declined by 3 per cent on the back of a slowdown in two-wheeler (2W) production.

Commenting on February 2023 sales data, Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM said, “Overall positive sentiments in the market continue, which is also driven by encouraging announcements at the Union Budget for consumers. Auto Industry is fully geared up for transition to Phase 2 of BS 6 Emission Norms for all categories of vehicles from next month. Hike in Repo Rates in February, which would result in higher cost of borrowings, remains a concern and we hope that the rates would get moderated suitably.”

Coming to the individual segments, the PV space continued to show strong growth with 2023 being the country’s best month yet for domestic sales. Domestic sales were up across all subsegments from a year ago with sales of cars rising from 1,33,572 units to 1,42,201 units, SUVs from 1,20,122 units to 1,38,238 units and vans from 9,290 units to 11,489 units.

Production numbers too were up for all but the passenger car segment which saw numbers slide from 1,70,428 units produced to 1,69,826 units produced.

Two-wheeler sales too were up 8 per cent year-on-year at 11,29,661 units as against 10,50,079 units last month. Production numbers though saw a notable decline in the month at 13,48,669 units manufactured – down from 14,30,528 units in February 2022.

Three-wheeler sales meanwhile grew a notable 86 per cent from 27,074 to 50,382.

Exports meanwhile shrank across all segments except for quadricycles in the month of February 2023. PV exports slid from 51,213 units in February 2022 to 46,486 units while 2W exports were down to 2,35,087 units from 3,75,689 units. Three-wheeler exports declined from 35,997 units to 19,640 units in February 2023.

Coming to cumulative sales for the financial year so far, overall domestic sales were up 21 per cent year-on-year at 1,84,68,278 units. PV sales were up almost 30 per cent over the same period in Fy2022 at 34,61,716 units as of February 2023 while two-wheeler sales were up 18 per cent to 1,45,71,534 units.