NEW DELHI: There is no slowing down of demand for passenger vehicles (PV) as the country’s top carmakers on Thursday reported a robust growth in May sales despite a significant price hike in April to meet the new emission norms. According to sales numbers provided by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), domestic PV sales is likely to have breached the 3.20 lakh mark in May 2023, which is the highest ever for the month.
The country’s top carmaker Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) reported domestic wholesale (dispatches to dealers) of 1,43,708 units in May, a jump of 15% year-on-year (YoY) as compared with 1,24,474 units in corresponding month last year.
Owing to the launch of new SUVs, MSIL sold 46,243 units of utility vehicles during the month, a growth of 65% y-o-y. Maruti’s mini segment sales, however, fell 30% to 12,236 units in May.
Hyundai Motor(HMIL) registered domestic sales volume of 48 601 units, up 15% year-on-year while its closest competitor Tata Motors total domestic passenger vehicle sales, including EVs, grew 6% year on year to 45,878. SUV major Mahindra & Mahindra’s PV sales grew by 22% to 32886 units while Toyota’s domestic wholesales last month stood at 19,379 units, its highest ever.
Kia India said its total wholesales increased 3 per cent to 24,770 units in May. Two-wheeler sales also witnessed a growth last month with TVS Motor reporting 32% growth in domestic sales to 252,690 units in May 2023. Royal Enfield also reported a 32% growth in May dispatches to 70,795 units. Hero MotorCorp sales grew to 508,309 units in May 2023 from 466,466 in May 2023.
The sharpest growth was seen in the electric vehicle segment. Retail monthly sales of electric two-wheelers is likely to have surpassed the 1 lakh unit mark May 2023 as customers lined to buy the vehicle before a big price hike due to sharp cut in Fame subsidies by the government.
S Motor to hike iQube price post subsidy cut
TVS Motor on Thursday raised price of its IQube EV by Rs 17,000 to Rs 20,000 depending on variant. The announcement came after the government’s FAME II programme revised subsidies for electric twowheelers (E2W). Ola Electric and Ather Energy have hiked prices of their scooters earlier. Ola Electric is reportedly raising prices of S1 and S1 Pro scooters by Rs 15,000 each. Ather has hiked prices of its EVs by Rs 30,000.