PV sales continue northward journey despite Covid-19 spread, fuel price hike

NEW DELHI:  The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) on Thursday reported a 92 per cent year-on-year increase in March sales to 146,203 units. While this growth is achieved over last year’s low base when the government had implemented a strict lockdown to curb the Covid-19 spread.

Carmakers are also seeing improvement given the increased preference for personal mobility and when the market is flooded with new launches when compared over the previous month. “MSIL domestic sales in FY19-20 had fallen by 18 per cent due to reasons that are well known and FY21 have been impacted due to Covid-19 related factors. Domestic sales in March 2020 had dropped about 48 per cent. It is seen that domestic sales in March 2021 have only recovered to March 2019 levels,” MSIL said in a statement.

For the full year, MSIL posted a total sales of 1,457,861 units, which is 6.7 per cent  lower than FY20. Its hatchback and compact car sales grew by 2.27 per cent month – on - month to 106,854 units, while those of utility vehicles fell marginally by 2.2 per cent to 26,174 units.

Vehicle dispatches of the country’s second largest vehicle manufacturer, Hyundai Motor India Ltd also increased by 1.93 per cent to 52,600 units. Tata Motors saw wholesales jump by 8.9 per cent to 29,654 units while Mahindra and Mahindra’s dispatches also rose by 8.5 per cent to 16,700 units.

“The PV industry witnessed a strong growth in Q4 FY21 on a low base with robust demand for personal mobility and new launches driving demand. Tata Motors PV Business posted its highest ever sales in 9-years, in March 21 and Q4 FY21,” said Shailesh Chandra, president (PV business), Tata Motors.
However, automakers expect supply challenges to remain for the next 2-3 months and then ease out gradually.