Domestic passenger vehicles sales rose by 23 per cent to a record of 37.93 lakh units in 2022, led by the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors, as the companies rode on easing of pandemic-related challenges and semiconductor shortages to cash in on pent-up demand, especially for SUVs. Other manufacturers like Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Skoda India also reported record sales in 2022. 

“The industry wholesales in January to December 2022 were just short of 38 lakh units. It was 37.93 lakh units against 30.82 lakh in 2021, which is growth of 23 per cent,” Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales) Shashank Srivastava told reporters in a virtual conference on Sunday. 

He further said that the 2022 wholesales are “the highest ever in the industry for a calendar year” and the last highest was in 2018 which was 33.3 lakh units.

Hyundai Motor India also reported its highest-ever domestic sales at 5,52,511 units in 2022 with growth of 9.4 per cent over 5,05,033 units posted in 2021. 

Similarly, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Managing Director Shailesh Chandra said that for the passenger vehicles division “calendar year 2022 has been a momentous year as we outpaced industry growth and crossed the distinctive milestone of 5 lakh units comfortably to post wholesale of 5,26,798 units.” 

Another manufacturer Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported a total wholesales of 1,60,357 units in 2022 as against 1,30,768 units in 2021, registering growth of 23 per cent.