Prominent automobile brands in India witnessed significant changes in their sales patterns in February 2024. Maruti Suzuki maintained its position as the best-selling car brand last month, while Tata Motors shot up to second spot. Hyundai, on the other hand, did see a small downturn. Compared to 2.94 lakh units sold in the same month the previous year, the Indian market saw sales of over 3.30 lakh passenger vehicles in February. As a result, a YoY sales surge of 12.35 per cent was recorded. All in all, the majority of car manufacturers experienced a decline in their month-over-month (MoM) sales, which indicated a brief slump in the market. However, there were several other companies such as Mahindra, MG, and Renault that continued to see robust year-over-year (YoY) growth too, demonstrating the adaptability and tenacity of our country's automotive sector. For a better understanding, let's quickly go through each manufacturer's sales figures from the previous month.
Maruti Suzuki
For the said month, Maruti Suzuki was still India's best-selling automaker. The firm sold more than 1.60 lakh vehicles at retail, surpassing the combined sales of Tata Motors, Hyundai, and Mahindra & Mahindra. Data from the industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) shows that Maruti Suzuki's domestic passenger vehicle (PV) volume increased 9.03 per cent year-over-year (YoY) to 1.60 lakh units in April-February FY24 from 1.47 lakh units during the same period last year. Additionally, from April to February of this fiscal year, the export figures increased 12.84 per cent YoY to 2.55 lakh units, compared to 2.26 lakh units exported during the same period last fiscal year.
The brand offers a diverse range of vehicles. Via its Nexa dealerships, it sells the Ignis, Baleno, Ciaz, Fronx, Jimny, Grand Vitara, XL6, and the Invicto. Meanwhile, the Alto K10, S-Presso, Eeco, Celerio, WagonR, Swift, Dzire, Brezza, and Ertiga are available at its Arena dealerships.
Tata Motors
With almost 50,000 vehicles sold in February 2024, Tata Motors surpassed Hyundai in terms of sales. It recorded an 8.4 per cent increase in total wholesales to 86,406 units from 79,705 units during the same month the previous year. Moreover, the car manufacturer's overall domestic sales increased by 9 per cent to 84,834 units last month from 78,006 units the previous month. In a regulatory filing, the company stated that its passenger vehicle (PV) sales, which include electric vehicles, were up 19 per cent to 51,321 units in the domestic market from 43,140 units in the same month last year.
Sales of commercial vehicles as a whole decreased 4 per cent last month to 35,085 from 36,565 units YoY. February's domestic MH&ICV sales, which include trucks and buses, decreased to 16,227 units from 17,282 units in February 2023. According to Tata Motors, MH&ICV's total sales for both domestic and international operations in February, including trucks and buses, were 16,663 units as opposed to 17,928 units in February last year.
Hyundai
In February, the South Korean car major's month-over-month (MoM) sales fell by more than 12 per cent, but they nevertheless exceeded 50,000 units. Hyundai India reported February 2024 sales of 50,201 vehicles, up 7 per cent YoY. Last year, in the same month, the firm sold 47,001 units. This comes after the company posted its highest-ever domestic market monthly sales of 57,118 units in January 2024. The freshly updated Creta and the Exter SUVs continue to boost demand for the whole passenger vehicle range. Further, SUVs proved to be Hyundai's key growth engine once again, just as they are for other manufacturers today. The maker's SUV lineup comprises the Kona, Ioniq 5, Creta, Venue, Alcazar, Tucson, and the Exter. Notably, the new Creta accounted for 15,276 units or 30 per cent of all Hyundai dispatches.
Mahindra
Despite a 1.5 per cent decline in MoM sales over the previous month, Mahindra sold more than 42,000 SUVs in February. The Indian automaker's YoY sales increased significantly as well, by more than 40 per cent. The overall sales for the preceding month stood at 72,923, up 24 per cent YoY when foreign exports are also taken into account. The XUV700, Thar, Bolero, and Scorpio N were among the firm's top-performing models for the month. The year-to-date (YTD) sales soared by 31 per cent to 4.19 lakh units sold between April and February 2024. During the same time frame in the previous year, the company shipped 3.24 lakh units.
Kia
February 2024 saw a 15 per cent decline in Kia's monthly sales. The maker reported a decrease in annual sales of over 18 per cent despite selling more than 20,000 vehicles in retail last month. The company sold 23,769 units in January 2024, according to the MOM analysis. In terms of model-specific sales, the Sonet emerged as the top performer for the Korean automaker with 9,102 units sold, marking a 7 per cent year-over-year reduction from 9,836 units in February 2023. The Seltos comes in second place with a sales bar of 6,265 units, which is 22 per cent less than the previous year.
The Seltos mid-size SUV sales had a meager 2 per cent MOM de-growth. The Carens, with 4,832 units, lags behind these significant sales pullers for the brand. The MUV saw a 23 per cent drop in YOY sales. In February last year, 6,248 Carens units were sold. Regarding its MOM numbers, there has been a 17 per cent dip in sales. The EV6, the lone electric vehicle in the lineup, managed to sell just one unit.
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