WionDrive News Desk 
The Indian auto industry saw a rise in the sales of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) while the sales of small cars saw a dip despite heavy discounts, as per data shared by automakers. The sale of entry-level vehicles got impacted due to rising inflation whereas the sales of premium vehicles were unaffected by price hikes. The likes of Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra reported rise in sales of domestic SUVs at 24% and 39% year-on-year, respectively.
Mahindra sells SUVs such as Thar, Scorpio and XUVs, which have reported multiple months of record sales in their category in 2023. On the back of these models, the company has seen 20%-57% sales growth each month this financial year so far. In the Maruti camp, sales of SUVs have formed 36% of its domestic passenger vehicle (PV) so far this fiscal year, compared with 22% last fiscal. For Mahindra, SUVs accounted for almost all of its PV sales.
In the year end, automakers usually provide massive discounts on their models. However, due to low demand for entry-level vehicles, Maruti increased discounts by even more for its lesser-priced models by 40% to 45%. And yet, sales of its small cars like the Alto and Baleno were down 29%. In part, this was also due to Maruti’s moderation of wholesales.
Honda Cars India reported domestic sales of 7,902 units with a growth of 12% in December. The newly launched Elevate SUV accounted for over 50% of total sales.
Home-grown automaker, Tata Motors, too reported an 9% growth in domestic PV sales. However, it did not specify the growth rates of different categories of cars. It witnessed a massive jump of 29% in sales of electric vehicles at 5,006 in December as compared to 3,868 units in the year-ago period. The year 2023 was the third consecutive year for Tata Motors, of posting highest ever sales of 5.53 lakh, led by its commanding position in the compact SUV segment and strong growth in hatches, despite the hatch segment degrowing at an industry level.
Among two-wheelers, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor reported jump in domestic sales at 26% and 27%, respectively, while Royal Enfield reported a 7% fall in sales. As per analysts, the two-wheeler makers benefited from the wedding season that took place during the first half of the month.
