In the current festival season, spanning from late August to the third week of November, car manufacturers in India, including Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), Tata Motors, Kia India, and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), are poised to achieve a significant milestone – collectively selling one million units. This achievement is attributed to a robust booking pipeline, improved supply chains, and the more accessible availability of semiconductor chips. Particularly, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) across segments are outperforming the overall passenger vehicle (PV) market.

Industry estimates suggest that the automobile sector is set to sell a total of four million units in the current financial year, with 25 percent of these sales expected during the festival season, which spans 87 days this year. For context, the previous peak was in 2021 when 9.34 lakh units were sold during the 92-day festive period. Last year, automakers managed to sell 892,000 PVs during the same season.

September 2023 is projected to set a record with wholesale numbers reaching approximately 3.61 lakh units, surpassing the previous year’s figure of 3.55 lakh units.

Puneet Gupta, Director of S&P Automotive, highlighted the optimistic atmosphere in India, with positive customer sentiments in both urban and rural markets. Gupta also pointed to recent model launches and increased car availability as contributing factors to the expected record car sales in October.

Leading PV manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), remains bullish about its sales numbers in the coming weeks. Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales at Maruti Suzuki, mentioned that the company had pending orders for 325,000 units, with 40 percent of these being SUVs, including models like Jimny, Grand Vitara, Fronx, and Brezza.

Hyundai Motor India reported a positive start to the festival season, noting 10 percent sales growth in Kerala during Onam. The company expects a 9 percent year-on-year growth in sales volume during this festival season. Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of HMIL, emphasized that waiting periods have reduced, aiding timely deliveries.

India’s largest utility vehicle manufacturer, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), is banking on the festival season with a booking pipeline of 2.9 lakh SUVs. Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division at M&M, noted strong monthly booking inflow and low cancellation rates. The company also plans to increase production capacity from 39,000 units to 49,000 units per month by March 2024.

Luxury carmakers like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Lexus also expect robust sales during the festival season.

While limited discounts are expected for entry-level cars this festival season, overall, dealers are gearing up with attractive schemes and buy-and-sell exchange offers. Consumer spending has been rising post-COVID, particularly in the premium SUV segment, where models are priced between Rs 10-20 lakh.

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