Auto Sales December 2021 Live: Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors Sales Rise Despite Chip Shortage

TVS Motor Company's total sales fell 8% over the preceding month to 2.50 lakh units in December.

Sales snapshot (M-o-M)

• Total two-wheeler sales fell 9% to 2,35,392 units.

• Motorcycles sales fell 5% to 1,33,700 units.

• Scooters sales tanked 10% to 67,553 units.

• Three-wheeler sales, however, rose 5% to 15,541 units.

India's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. sold 3,94,773 units in December even as the two-wheeler demand remains a concern.

Hero MotoCorp's sales of its scooters and motorcycles rose 13% over the last month. In the wake of rising coronavirus cases, the company said that it continues to monitor the on-ground situation. "Localized restrictions imposed by certain states in the wake of rising Omicron cases will continue to restrict the customer movement," the statement added.

Sales Snapshot (M-o-M) -

• Motorcycle sales rose 14.5% to 3,76,862 units.

• Scooter sales fell 13% to 17,911 units.

• Exports however fell 1.18% to 20,288 units.

Sales for India's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., rose 10% month-on-month to 1,53,149 units in December, the company said in a statement as the shortage of electronic components continued to hurt production.

The company in a statement added that chip shortage had a minor impact on the production of vehicles during the month, and the shortage primarily affected the production of vehicles sold in domestic market.

Sales Snapshot (MoM)

• Exports rose 4.14% to 22,280 units.

• Mini and compact vehicle segment sales rose 15% to 85,665 units.

• Utility vehicle sales rose 10% to 26,982 units.

Tata Motors Ltd.’s passenger vehicle division sold 35,299 units in December, a 18.54% rise over the preceding month.

The company however added that the semi-conductor supplies will remain the key source of uncertainty in the comping months. "Additionally, the impact of the new strain of Covid needs to be closely tracked," Shailesh Chandra, President of Passenger Vehicles Business Unit at Tata Motors said in the statement, adding that the automaker will continue to work on the business agility plan and take proactive actions to mitigate the risks.

Sales Snapshot (MoM)

• Tata Motors’ total domestic sales rose 14.17% to 66,307 units.

• Total domestic commercial vehicle sales rose 5.9% to 34,151 units.

• Commercial vehicle exports however fell 20.43% to 3,143 units.

• Total electric vehicle sales stood at 2,255 units.

Escorts Ltd.’s tractor continued its sequential fall in December.

Tractor sales fell 34% month-on-month to 4,695 units, the company said in an exchange filing. The company sold 4,080 and 615 units in the domestic and overseas markets, respectively.

Escorts, however, added that rural cash flows are improving and all macroeconomic factors including healthy water reservoir level remains in favour of the tractor industry.

Sales of most Indian automakers recovered in December even as uncertainties around a shortage of chips persist.

Factory-gate shipments of passenger and commercial vehicles rose over the preceding month in December, according to BloombergQuint’s poll of four analysts—Dolat Capital, Emkay Global, Prabhudas Lilladher and Motilal Oswal. Tractors however declined in a seasonally weak period, the poll showed.

“Passenger vehicle sales are faring better than two-wheelers on the back of huge order backlogs,” Prabhudas Lilladher said in a report.

Meanwhile, sales for two-wheelers remained tepid in both urban and rural pockets as higher fuel prices restricted the pace of recovery, Motilal Oswal said in its report, adding that the inventory in the system is already at 60-75 days. Higher inventory is already putting stress on two-wheeler dealerships.

Indian automakers’ business was on the decline in the years leading to the Covid-19 outbreak and a complete lockdown to contain the pandemic caused a washout last year. Then a global shortage of chips—that help control everything from the steering to emissions—stalled a nascent recovery.