The overall commercial vehicle sales in India for April came at 60,246 units, which was 5 percent lower than 63,245 units sold for the same period a year ago. On the other hand, when one looks at the sales drop compared to March, the overall wholesales saw a decline of 34 percent.
It has been a common trend for the first month of a new fiscal to see a slowdown in sales, but a significant double-digit drop could be attributed to pre-buying rush in March, as the new fiscal year begins with the introduction of BS6 OBD2 norms. The new norms have increased the prices across vehicle category segments, while it is not as significant as the migration from BS4 to BS6, the price hike in the CV segment still gives a pinch to the customer.
Tata Motors, the country’s largest CV maker sold 21,507 units, which was a drop of 28 percent on a YoY basis and 39 percent over the previous month. The slowdown by the company was seen across its product category, with the I&LCV range seeing more than 60 percent reduction both on a YoY basis as well as MoM basis.
Mahindra & Mahindra grew its sales on a YoY basis across product categories with wholesales of 20,231 units. But compared to the previous month, except for the LCV upto 2-tonne segment which reported a flat growth all segments were in the red.
Ashok Leyland managed to sell 12,366 units, which was 10 percent higher compared to the same period last year but was 46 percent lower than the sales in March. The M&HCV truck and bus segment degrew by 52 percent on average compared to the previous month.
VECV (Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles) reported wholesales of 6,142 units, which was 29 percent higher YoY but 45 percent lower compared to March.
Going forward, the CV industry, especially the M&HCV segment is expected to pick up pace on the back of the growth of infrastructure projects.
| COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SALES IN INDIA | ||||||
| Company and Segment | Apr ’23 | Apr ’22 | Change (in units) | Change (in %) | Mar ’23 | Change (in %) |
| YoY | YoY | MoM | ||||
| Tata Motors | ||||||
| M&HCV | 6,984 | 7,425 | -441 | -6% | 15,963 | -56% |
| I&LCV | 2,148 | 5,607 | -3,459 | -62% | 6,570 | -67% |
| Passenger carriers | 2,061 | 2,137 | -76 | -4% | 3,973 | -48% |
| SCV Cargo and Pickup | 10,314 | 14,711 | -4,397 | -30% | 18,801 | -45% |
| Total | 21,507 | 29,880 | -8,373 | -28% | 35,144 | -39% |
| Mahindra & Mahindra | ||||||
| LCV < 2T | 3,416 | 2,929 | 487 | 17% | 3,385 | 1% |
| LCV 2 T – 3.5 T | 15,665 | 13,768 | 1,897 | 14% | 17,428 | -10% |
| LCV > 3.5T + M&HCV | 1,150 | 705 | 445 | 63% | 1,469 | -22% |
| Total | 20,231 | 17,402 | 2,829 | 16% | 22,282 | -9% |
| Ashok Leyland | ||||||
| M&HCV Trucks | 6,656 | 6,805 | -149 | -2% | 14,399 | -54% |
| M&HCV Bus | 766 | 268 | 498 | 186% | 1,537 | -50% |
| LCV | 4,944 | 4,124 | 820 | 20% | 6,949 | -29% |
| Total | 12,366 | 11,197 | 1,169 | 10% | 22,885 | -46% |
| Volvo Eicher CV | ||||||
| 6,142 | 4,766 | 1,376 | 29% | 11,263 | -45% | |
| Total | 60,246 | 63,245 | -2,999 | -5% | 91,574 | -34% |
