2022 car sales zoom 23% to record high of 3.8 mn; 14% higher than 2018 peak

This is mainly on pent-up demand and better semiconductor chip supply

The auto industry posted its highest-ever annual domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales in 2022 at 3.793 million units on the back of pent-up demand and better semiconductor chip supply. The figure was 23.1 per cent more than that of 2021.

The highest growth in annual domestic PV sales was seen by Tata Motors, Kia India and Toyota Kirloskar at 58.2 per cent, 40.2 per cent and 22.6 per cent (see table), respectively, according to data shared by the companies. Auto companies count wholesales, the units dispatched to dealers, as sales.

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki posted a 15.4 per cent growth in annual domestic PV sales at 1.579 million units.

Shashank Srivastava, executive director, sales, Maruti Suzuki, said, in 2022, domestic wholesales of the Indian auto industry was 3.79 million units against last year’s 3.08 million units, a growth of 23.1 per cent in the calendar year.

“This calendar year’s wholesale growth of 3.79 million units is the highest ever in the Indian auto industry in a calendar year. The highest was last in 2018, which was 3.38 million. So, 2022’s figure is about 14 per cent higher than the previous highest,” he told reporters at a virtual conference.

This resurgence is partly because of better availability of semiconductor chips in 2022 as compared to 2021, he added.

”Also, this rise has an element of pent-up demand. In the last three years, we saw a decline in the industry numbers. So the pent-up demand has also played a role in this 23.1 per cent growth,” he noted. 

He said demand for SUVs continued to grow and its share stood at around 45.3 per cent of the total PV sales in 2022.

In terms of product mix on the basis of price, he said, “It appears that about 40 per cent of vehicles sold in the industry were in the bracket of Rs 10 lakh or above.”

The Indian auto industry’s domestic PV sales in December 2022 were 276,000 units, which were 8.3 per cent higher than in December 2021, he added.

Meanwhile, Maruti’s domestic PV sales in December 2022 were 112,010 units, 8.9 per cent lower than in December 2021.

On the lower figure in December 2022, Srivastava said, “For models where we have large pending orders like Brezza, Vitara, Ertiga, Dzire, Swift or Baleno, we were unable to produce more vehicles because of the semiconductor chip supply constraints. For models where we had adequate supply, we controlled the production because we wanted to keep the stock levels down because it was the last month of the year.”

Tata Motors sold 526,798 units of PVs domestically, which is a 58.2 per cent growth.

Shailesh Chandra, managing director (MD), Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, said, “For Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles, CY22 has been a momentous year. We outpaced industry growth and crossed the distinctive milestone of 500,000 units comfortably to post wholesales of 526,798 units. Last quarter (Q3 of FY23) was one of the best quarters for the PV industry with strong retails from new launches, robust festive demand, and adequate supply of vehicles.”

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) saw its domestic PV sales jump from 130,768 units in 2021 to 160,357 units in 2022.

Atul Sood, associate vice-president, sales and strategic marketing, TKM, said,

“The year 2022 has been tremendous for TKM, both in terms of new product launches as well as sales performance.

We introduced milestone models like the Urban Cruiser Hyryder and the Innova Hycross. Both the models have been very well appreciated by our customers.”

TKM’s models like the Fortuner, Legender, Camry and the Vellfire continue to excel in their respective segments, Sood added.