Monthly Car Sales Dropped By More Than Half In May 2021

Published On Jun 04, 2021 12:12 PM By Sonny

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The industry has still fared better during the second wave of lockdowns in comparison to last year

Overall monthly car sales reduced by 64 percent but the figures were 182 percent higher than May 2020.
Maruti Suzuki’s sales dropped by more than 1 lakh units, a decline of nearly 76 percent.
Toyota’s MoM figures saw the highest decline, at over 92 percent.
Only four carmakers sold more than 10,000 units in May 2021: Maruti, Hyundai, Tata and Kia.
Sales expected to improve in June while industry recovery will depend on demand during the festive months towards the end of the year.

The resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last couple of months has forced various states to reinstate lockdowns. As a result, both automotive sales and manufacturing were significantly impacted yet again in May 2021. The industry witnessed an overall decline of 64 percent in monthly sales across all non-luxury brands. Here are the exact figures:

Manufacturer	May 2021	April 2021	May 2020	Month-on-month (%)
Maruti Suzuki	32,903	1,35,879	13,702	-75.8%
Hyundai	25,001	49,002	6,883	-49%
Tata	15,181	25,095	3,152	-39.5%
Kia	11,050	16,111	1,661	-31.4%
Mahindra	7,748	18,186	3,745	-57.4%
Renault	2,620	8,642	1,753	-69.7%
Honda	2,032	9,072	375	-77.6%
Nissan	1,235	3,369	378	-63.3%
MG	1,016	2,605	710	-61%
VW	1,425	1,533	1,404	-7%
Ford	766	961	5,469	-86%
Skoda	716	961	508	-25.5%
Toyota	707	9,622	1,639	-92.6%
Jeep (FCA)	475	846	93	-43.9%
Citroen	40	230	0	-82.6%
Total	1,02,915	2,86,623	36,576	-64%

Takeaways

Unlike the summer of 2020 when the entire country was under lockdown, the second wave has been seeing state-wise restrictions. Many of these were imposed almost halfway through May 2021 to contain the spread of the coronavirus. So some carmakers had to reduce production while others had to stop altogether. Since customers were not buying during this period, some carmakers also stopped or reduced production due to excess inventory at dealerships.

While the overall sales dropped by 64 percent, compared to April 2021, the May 2021 total is a lot better compared to May 2020, following zero sales in April 2020, with a year-on-year (YoY) growth figure of over 182 percent. This YoY improvement in monthly sales is true for most brands listed above.

As the largest carmaker in India, Maruti Suzuki saw a decline of nearly 76 percent in month-on-month (MoM) figures, with 1,02,976 fewer units sold. For context, the April 2021 sales of the Swift (18,316) and Baleno (16,384) was higher than the company’s total sales the following month, at 32,903. Meanwhile, that tally is still a YoY improvement of 140 percent.

Hyundai’s monthly sales were nearly halved in May, dropping from 49,001 units to just 25,001. In a YoY comparison, that’s 263 percent more than the Korean carmaker’s tally in May 2020 of less than 7,000 units.

The third-best performing carmaker for May 2021 was Tata with over 15,000 units sold. That’s nearly 40 percent less than the month before but a 381 percent improvement in terms of YoY figures.
Toyota witnessed the biggest MoM decline of nearly 93 percent while also suffering a YoY drop of around 57 percent.

Also read: Carmakers Extend Service And Warranty Deadlines Due To COVID-19 Lockdown

Kia’s YoY sales in May 2021 improved by 565 percent while the monthly sales dropped by 31 percent. Only one carmaker has had a smaller dip in sales than Kia. It was also the only other brand to enjoy sales of over 10,000 units this past month.

Volkswagen’s sales figures have remained quite constant through May 2021, April 2021 and May 2020 as well. Its MoM figures dipped by 7 percent but YoY figures are up by 1.5 percent.
Most industry leaders expect sales to show an upward trend by July but a strong recovery is likely to be determined by the sales performance during the festive months of September, October, and November.