FADA: Retail car sales drop by 11 per cent in December 2021, COVID19 to impact sentiments

Tuhin Guha Published: January 05, 2022, 01:03 PM IST

A per the latest retail sales data from the Federation of Automobile Dealer Associations(FADA), sales of passenger vehicles in India dropped by 10.91 per cent from the same month in 2020. Indians bought 2,44,639 cars in the past month, against 2,74,605 units sold in December 2020.

COVID19 to hurt sales in early 2022

Despite the slump sales have remained higher than pre-covid levels, sales the past month were 11.77 per cent higher than December 2019. However, this is unlikely to continue with India in the midst of the third covid wave. With experts suggesting the peak of this wave to come by late January or early February, FADA expects buyer sentiments to be subdued over the next few months. Factors like restrictions across states, a return to work from home and reduced discretionary purchases among buyers are expected to dull growth in car sales. The semiconductor shortage has played a role in sales not reaching 2020 levels but the situation is expected to better over the next few months.

Hyundai India retains second spot in retail sales, Tata Motors biggest gainer

While Tata Motors edged past Hyundai in wholesales, the Korean carmaker has held on to its second spot in retail sales. Tata Motors gained the most market share, selling 30,941 cars for a 12.65 pr cent share and up from 7.25 per cent last year. Another significant gainer has been Mahindra, up to 7.31 per cent from 5.81 per cent. Skoda-Volkswagen and Nissan India also increased market share with the German brand selling 5,059 cars for a 2.07 per cent share, more than double of the 2,500 cars it sold in December 2020. These gains seem to have come at the expense of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Kia, all of who lost significant market share.

Mercedes-Benz remains the largest luxury brand in India with 988 vehicles sold, BMW second with 803 units.