Car Sales Up 3.6 Per Cent Led by SUVs in June

Pune: Passenger vehicle (PV) wholesales, the barometer of the economy, grew 3.6 per cent to 3.40 lakh units in June, primarily driven by new launches and robust demand for SUVs amidst heatwave across the country last month.

Automakers had dispatched 3.28 lakh passenger vehicles to dealers in June last year.

In the January-June period, the PV sales also rose 7.6 per cent to 2.168 million, compared to 2.015 million units during the same period in 2023.

“Compared to June 2023, this year saw a growth of only 12,000 vehicles. This increase has come from the launch of new models, which came from our competitors,” Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer, marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki India, told reporters at a media interaction.

He noted that during this financial year, PV sales are expected to see muted growth due to a higher base.

PV wholesales at Maruti increased by 3 per cent year-on-year to 1,37,160 units in June, compared to 133,027 units during the same month in 2023.

Sales, however, at Hyundai were flat at 50,103 units last month. “We closed H1 of calendar year 2024 with an overall sales growth of 5.68 per cent year-on-year. SUVs have contributed strongly, accounting for 66 per cent of our domestic sales. The new Hyundai Creta has been a key driver for domestic H1 sales with 91,348 units sold, a growth of 11 per cent over the same period last year,” said Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India.

Sales at Tata Motors also dipped 8 per cent to 43,624 units in June. “In Q1 FY25, after a boost in demand in the first half of April due to festivities in some parts of the country, the passenger vehicle industry saw a decline in retails in May and June, influenced by the general elections and heat waves across the country. Tata Motors wholesales of 1,38,682 cars and SUVs in Q1 FY25 remained flat compared to Q1 FY24, as we readjusted our wholesales in line with retails to keep channel inventory under control,” said Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility.

Sales at Mahindra jumped 23 per cent at 40,022 units, compared to 32,588 units in June 2023. “We sold a total of 40,022 SUVs in June, which has been a momentous month, as we rolled out the 200,000th XUV700 from our facility,” said Veejay Nakra, president, automotive division, M&M.

Sales at Toyota Kirloskar Motor went up a record 40 per cent year-on-year to 27,474 units last month.

Sales at Kia also soared 9.8 per cent to 21,300 units last month, compared to the 19,391 units sold in June 2023.

While sales at Honda Cars stood at 4,804 units, JSW MG Motor retailed 4,644 units in June.