Passenger Vehicle sales to cross 38 lakh unit-mark this fiscal

Vijay C Roy

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Chandigarh, December 22

Driven by new launches and robust demand, passenger vehicle (PV) market is set to touch an all-time high of 38 lakh unit-mark in FY23. The total sales during April to November in the current fiscal were encouraging at over 25 lakh units. According to insiders, going by the current trend, PV manufacturers are eyeing the highest-ever sales volume in the current fiscal.

In FY22, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), PV sales in India were at 30.69 lakh units. A record 33.77 lakh units were sold in FY19.

“For FY23, we are anticipating sales of 38 lakh units and 41 lakh units in FY24,” said Shashank Srivastava, executive director, Maruti Suzuki India. The growth will be led by all categories, particularly hatchbacks and SUVs, mainly in the entry-level and mid-SUV segment.

According to ICRA, ease in supply chain constraints and chip shortage, capacity utilisation of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) improved to healthy levels over the past few quarters and they have now ramped up their expansion plans.

Meanwhile, Maruti is betting big on enhancing its SUV portfolio to increase its overall market share. “Currently, we have two SUVs — Brezza and Grand Vitara. We will launch two more in the upcoming Auto Expo to increase our market share to 50% from the present 42.5%,” Shashank said.