New Delhi: Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has said that India may register its highest ever passenger vehicle sales at over 3.5 million units in 2022-23 as demand for personal mobility returns strongly. And the lack of component supplies, especially semiconductors, comfort.
Shashank Srivastava, head of sales and marketing at Maruti, told TOI that consumer interest in new purchases remains strong, adding that a big push in demand is coming from rural markets, where buying has been brisk.
The highest ever car sales in a year in India was recorded in 2018-19, when the industry volume stood at 33.8 lakh units. After that, sales of passenger vehicles including small cars, sedans, SUVs and MPVs declined to 27.7 lakh units in 2019-20 due to economic challenges and slowdown in metros.
Sales in 2020-21 were impacted by the corona lockdown and restrictions, and the industry ended the year at 27.1 lakh units, before seeing a rebound in 2021-22 – largely due to an increase in demand – where the number stood at 30.2 lakh units. are supposed to. Srivastava said the only impediment to big change is the lack of semiconductors.
“Demand has been strong throughout, and there have been no major hiccups, except for supply issues on semiconductors. Even the chip shortage issue seems to be getting better over the past few months. We expect 2022- The sales numbers in 23 will be strong and will be anywhere between 33.6 lakh and 35.2 lakh,” Srivastava said.
The positive optimism comes even as petrol and diesel prices have been generally higher, and vehicle prices have risen over the past year as commodities become costlier.
Srivastava said sales of personal cars increased as people shifted from shared mobility (like Ola and Uber) and public transport to self-owned cars to avoid public places due to social distancing norms.
Shrivastava said that the rural segment would play an important role in increasing the number of industries. “Even for Maruti, the share of rural in total sales is now 43%. Rural income has not been impacted as much as compared to urban. Rural has seen higher investment from the government, MSP prices and reservoir are better, and the sowing has been higher than last year.”
On Maruti, he said the company is looking to increase market share by strengthening its SUV portfolio. “SUVs are in demand, and the consumer is aspirational.”