Auto sales numbers for December 2021

The month of December was actually a surprise for the auto numbers and a positive one too. The two traditional leaders in the passenger car segment saw de-growth in sales numbers for the month of December. However, most of the other major companies reported positive growth in numbers for the month of December 2021.

But before we get to the sales number of auto companies there were a few key trends that stood out in the month of Dec-21.

a) Tata Motors emerged as the second largest sellers of passenger vehicles in the month of December pushing Hyundai to the third spot for the first time.

b) Total electrical vehicles (EV) sales touched a new record of 5,592 units in the month of Dec-21 which translates into 5.6% of EV penetration in passenger vehicle sales.

c) This ratio was as low as 1.8% in December 2020, which shows the extent of incremental growth that EVs have achieved in December 2021.

How did the 4 wheeler sales pan out in Dec-21?

The sales of the two largest passenger vehicle manufacturers viz. Maruti and Hyundai continued to see pressure due to the acute shortage of microchips, that go into autos. 

A) In the 4-wheeler PV space, Maruti saw Dec-21 sales lower by -12.6% at 123,016 units on a YoY basis. The other big de-growth of -31.8% was witnessed by Hyundai, which fell to third place selling just 32,312 units in Dec-21. Honda also witnessed de-growth of -8% YoY selling just 7,973 units.

B) But there were sales gainers too. Tata Motors reported a whopping 50% growth in sales of PVs at 35,299 units emerging as the second largest auto player in Dec-21. M&M also witnessed 10% growth at 17,722 units and Toyota grew 45% at 10,832 units. Nissan and Skoda also reported sharp growth of over 150%, but on a much smaller base.

The festive demand and the seasonal cycles did have its lag effect in making December slightly better than expected. Here it must be noted that Tata Motors alone accounted for 50% of the EVs sold in December 2021.

What about 2-wheelers and CVs?

For the month of Dec-21, the largest player, Hero Motocorp reported -11.7% fall in sales in Dec-21 at 374,485 units while TVS saw sales lower by -4.2% at 146,673 units. Bajaj Auto domestic sales were almost flat at 127,593 units, but in the case of Bajaj, as is the norm, its much stronger global market franchise helped the company to report solid overall numbers.

In the commercial vehicles (CV) space, all the companies including Tata Motors, M&M, Bajaj Auto, TVS and VECV reported positive sales growth on YoY basis. Ashok Leyland was the only company to report -3% fall in sales at 11,493 units.

Finally, tractors had a rough month as rural demand has been tepid, which was also the factor that impacted two wheelers. Among the major tractor manufacturers, M&M reported -21% fall in sales at 16,687 units while Escorts reported 43.5% fall in sales at 4,080 units in December 2021.

The above figures all refer to wholesale dispatches and do not reflect dealer level sales.