The country has sold at least 4.25 million new vehicles, topping the 4.2 million sold by Japan in 2022. PTI.
New Delhi: India has surpassed Japan for the first time to become the third largest auto market. The country has sold at least 4.25 million new vehicles, topping the 4.2 million sold by Japan in 2022.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), new vehicles delivered in India between January and November 2022 totalled 4.13 million.
According to news agency ANI, the number rose to roughly 4.25 million units when the sales figure for December, which Maruti Suzuki, the largest automaker in India, reported on 1 January this year.
Japan, on the other hand, sold 4.20 million vehicles last year, down 5.6 per cent from 2021.
A report by SIAM said that India’s sales volume is expected to increase further with the inclusion of pending fourth-quarter sales figures for commercial vehicles, along with year-end results which are to be released by Tata Motors and other automakers.
In 2021, China lead the global auto market in 2021 with 26.27 million vehicles sold, while the US remained second at 15.4 million vehicles, followed by Japan at 4.44 million units.
Nikkei Asia said India’s auto market has “fluctuated” in recent years. In 2018, nearly 4.4 million vehicles were sold, but sales dipped below 4 million units in 2019, due primarily to the credit crunch that hit the nonbank sector that year.
Vehicle sales in India further plummeted below 3-million mark in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.
In 2021, vehicle sales bounced back in India, with the country selling close to 4 million units. However, growth was hampered by the lack of automotive chips.
In 2022, petrol-powered vehicles, including hybrids, made up the majority of new car sales in India, Nikkei Asia reported, adding that electric vehicles (EVs) hardly have a presence.
Also, the automotive chip crisis began to ease last year which served as a launchpad for a comeback. Apart from Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and other Indian automakers saw sales grow during last year.
With inputs from agencies
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