The commercial vehicle segment is often considered the barometer of the country’s growth and close on the heels of the 8% GDP reading for Q1, August CV sales indicate a 9% YoY growth to 74,813 units compared to 68,626 units last year, and 4 percent higher over the previous month.
Barring a marginal slowdown in the SCV segment for Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, all segments were in the green.
Tata Motors, the country’s largest commercial vehicle maker sold 30,748 units, which was 5 percent higher compared to the last year. The sales were led by 14 percent growth in the HCV trucks segment, while ILMCV trucks and passenger carriers grew 5 percent and 30 percent each. But compared to the previous month the overall sales were down by a percent.
Mahindra & Mahindra wholesales registered a growth of 10 percent. The company sold 23,613 units with the LCV above 3.5-tonne and the M&HCV segment seeing 47 percent growth albeit a low-year-ago base. In terms of overall numbers, Mahindra continued to grow on a month-on-month basis by 13 percent.
Ashok Leyland managed to increase its sales by 9 percent. The company sold 14,545 commercial vehicles, compared to 13,301 last year. The growth mainly came from improvement in bus orders, which doubled YoY. Compared to the previous month the sales were flat with 2 percent growth.
Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV), reported wholesales of 5,907 units, which was 30 percent higher YoY and 11 percent over the previous month. The company saw a smart uptick in demand for LD & LMD Trucks (3.5-tonne to 18.5-tonne) with the segment growing 30 percent YoY. The HD trucks segment also grew by 47 percent YoY.
Looking at the first four months of the new fiscal, the CV industry seems to be in a growth mode led by replacement demand, new product launches, infrastructure push and improvement in road freight. Going forward, the industry is expected to continue to chart new territories, albeit with no major hindrance.
| COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SALES IN INDIA | ||||||
| Company and Segment | Aug ’23 | Aug ’22 | Change (in units) | Change (in %) | July ’23 | Change (in %) |
| YoY | YoY | MoM | ||||
| Tata Motors | ||||||
| HCV Trucks | 9,000 | 7,865 | 1,135 | 14% | 8,502 | 6% |
| ILMCV Trucks | 5,207 | 4,968 | 239 | 5% | 4,899 | 6% |
| Passenger carriers | 2,986 | 2,299 | 687 | 30% | 4,292 | -30% |
| SCV Cargo and Pickup | 13,555 | 14,181 | -626 | -4% | 13,523 | 0% |
| Total | 30,748 | 29,313 | 1,435 | 5% | 31,216 | -1% |
| Mahindra & Mahindra | ||||||
| LCV < 2T | 3,896 | 3,896 | 0 | 0% | 3,400 | 15% |
| LCV 2 T – 3.5 T | 18,768 | 16,940 | 1,828 | 11% | 16,503 | 14% |
| LCV > 3.5T + M&HCV | 949 | 646 | 303 | 47% | 995 | -5% |
| Total | 23,613 | 21,482 | 2,131 | 10% | 20,898 | 13% |
| Ashok Leyland | ||||||
| M&HCV Trucks | 7,709 | 7,051 | 658 | 9% | 7,834 | -2% |
| M&HCV Bus | 1,304 | 620 | 684 | 110% | 1,140 | 14% |
| LCV | 5,532 | 5,630 | -98 | -2% | 5,233 | 6% |
| Total | 14,545 | 13,301 | 1,244 | 9% | 14,207 | 2% |
| Volvo Eicher CV | ||||||
| LD & LMD Trucks (3.5-18.5-tonne) | 3,463 | 2,670 | 793 | 30% | 2,759 | 26% |
| HD Trucks | 1,540 | 1,045 | 495 | 47% | 1,369 | 12% |
| LMD Bus | 776 | 711 | 65 | 9% | 1,028 | -25% |
| HD Bus | 128 | 104 | 24 | 23% | 155 | -17% |
| Total | 5,907 | 4,530 | 1,377 | 30% | 5,311 | 11% |
| Grand Total | 74,813 | 68,626 | 6,187 | 9% | 71,632 | 4% |
