Car sales in India collapse in May owing to devastating Covid second wave

The current second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a slump in car sales in May of 2021. Sales of the new passenger vehicles have been impacted hard due to lockdowns, curfews and restrictions issued by most states in the country.

Several automakers were forced to shut manufacturing plants, or operated at limited capacity. Almost all the carmakers advanced their scheduled annual plant maintenance. The majority of automobile dealerships too remained shut because of lockdowns. These factors impacted car sales across India.

The supply chain disruption, semiconductor crisis, severe health crisis, job losses, salary cuts, travel restrictions, continuing work-from-home may have also significantly dampened consumer sentiment as well, hurting car sales.

India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki registered a 75% slump in domestic wholesales in May 2021. The car major posted 35,293 units in May 2021 compared to 142,454 units sold in the previous month. Maruti Suzuki in a statement said that it witnessed production disruption owing to lockdowns.

(Read full report here: Maruti Suzuki sells 33,771 units in domestic market amid pandemic gloom)

Hyundai's domestic sales plummeted 49% in May 2021 to 25,001 units as against 49,002 units in April this year.

(Read full report here: Hyundai India sales dip 48% in May as coronavirus restrictions take a toll)

Hyundai's sibling brand Kia India too reported a 31.4% MoM drop in May sales at 11,050 units as against 16,111 units.

(Read full report here: Kia India registers 11,050 units in May 2021)

Among the homegrown car majors, Tata Motors' domestic sales recorded a 40% slump in May 2021. The automaker posted 15,181 units of wholesales last month.

(Read full report here: Tata Motors registers 40 per cent drop in sales amid Covid-19 crisis)

Mahindra & Mahindra's domestic passenger vehicle sales dropped by 56% to 8,004 units in May 2021 from 18,285 units in the previous month.

Honda, Renault, Nissan, MG Motor and Ford India too reported a sales decline in May 2021. These automakers registered MoM sales slump of 77.6%, 69.7%, 63.3%%, 60.4% and 86% respectively in May 2021.

(Read full report here: MG Motor sells 1,016 units in pandemic-hit May, says battle vs Covid-19 priority)

The passenger vehicle sales are expected to bounce back though. The severity of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic coming down slowly and state governments are unlocking economic activities in phase by phase manner. This would help the industry to witness the demand for passenger vehicles recovering in the near term.