car sales: Car sales in slow lane as parts crunch bites

Despite strong demand in the local market, sales of passenger vehicles continued to decline as some of the country’s major automakers restricted production due to global shortages of semi-drivers.

But even as market leaders, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India both posted 10% decline in monthly sales at 121,995 units and 44,001 units respectively, with Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Skoda Auto India registering strong growth in volumes. performed well for New model launches and to a lesser extent on a lower base. “Lack of electronic components had a minor impact on the production of vehicles, mainly domestic models,” Maruti Suzuki said in a statement. The company took all possible measures to minimize the impact.

Yuichi Murata, Director (Marketing and Sales), Honda Cars India explained that even as customer sentiment continues to improve, supply chain issues remain a challenge that is impacting the industry’s ability to meet rising demand. “We expect the situation to improve as soon as possible, so that the demand-supply equation can be more balanced,” Murata said. At Honda Cars India, wholesale sales fell 13% to 7,874 units in April.

While the local market is expected to continue to gain traction, the COVID restrictions in China could put pressure on the supply chain, fear industry executives. MG Motor India said that while demand for MG products from Hector, Astor and Gloster continues to show positive momentum in inquiries and bookings, production is ‘unstable and highly impacted’ by global supply chain constraints amid the fresh lockdown in various parts of the world. ‘ Stayed.

“The brand is closely monitoring the situation due to the new COVID waves and is aligning its efforts to address it,” the company said. MG Motor India sold 2008 units, a decline of 22% as compared to 2,565 units sold in the year-ago period.

Domestic automaker Tata Motors bucked the trend last month with a 66 per cent rise in sales at 41,587 units.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) too saw volumes rise 57% to 15,085 units in April. Atul Sood, Associate Vice President (Sales & Strategic Marketing), TKM said, “Demand is peaking in the new financial year, as we close the month of April with an overall growth of 57% on wholesale sales in April 2021. Also. Along with Crysta, Fortuner and Legend, Camry Hybrid has also received very encouraging booking orders.”

Czech carmaker Skoda also saw a nearly five-fold increase to 5,152 units on the back of new launches – sedan Slavia and SUV Kushak.

Originally published at Pen 18