New car, SUV sales see steady growth in February 2023

India’s passenger vehicle growth story continues its march in February 2023. At 3,17,905 units, which constitute the wholesale numbers released by the eight carmakers (see data table below), the industry has surpassed the 3,00,000-unit mark for the eighth time. Month in the first 11 months (April 2022 to February 2023) of the current financial year.

The festive month of September 2022, with 3,55,043 units, was the best month so far in the financial year. Apart from April, May and December 2022, the total PV sales have been more than 3,20,000 units. This is despite weak demand for entry-level mass-market hatchbacks, which were a growth driver for the industry not too long ago. What has fueled the growth over the years is the constant and growing demand for SUVs and considering that every second car sold in India is now a utility vehicle, over 1,60,000 units comprised of UVs, SUVs or MPVs. Will be

After opening January with sales of 1,47,348 units, Maruti Suzuki registered a growth of 10 per cent in February with 1,47,467 units. The gap between the two months is just 119 units, indicating that demand for its entry-level vehicles is still sluggish even as the company is making solid gains on the utility vehicle front. Mahindra’s hilarious response to viral video claiming Scorpio’s waterdrop has been leaked

Nevertheless, the February 2023 festival is the second best monthly sales performance after September 2022 at 1,48,380 units. Its entry-level cars – Alto and S-Presso – sold 21,875 units, up 11 per cent but down 14 per cent from January 2023’s 25,446 units. The demand has increased since the launch of the S-Presso CNG in October 2022 and the third generation Alto K10 in November 2022. For the first 11 months, the cumulative sales of both these cars stood at 2,21,329 units, up 13 percent year-on-year.