Second wave of Covid keeps car sales suppressed in May

We anticipate that factors like pent up demand and the demand for personal mobility will continue to be quite significant once the markets open. Naveen Soni, Sr. Vice President, Toyota Kirloskar Motors

- Ritwik Sinha

Stuck by the second wave of Covid-19, car sales in May 2021 crashed by 64 percent from to 103,171 units from April sales.

On year, sales were up from just 36,576 units in the same month last year. Yearly sales graph was northbound only because of a very low base in May last year, when the country was badly hit by the first wave of the pandemic.

The second wave has also disrupted business operations severely in various parts of the country.

While varied degree of lockdowns were announced by states where the cases were high; many OEMs decided to shut the manufacturing operations for a part of the month.

Major car makers like Maruti, Toyota among others had shut down for maintenance work and also to support the Centre in diverting oxygen for saving lives and also to keep its employees safe.

Maruti Suzuki

The country’s largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported total sales of 46,555 units in May 2021 compared to 18,539 units sold in May 2020.

In May 2021, Maruti sold 33,771 units in the domestic market, 1,522 units to other OEMs and exported 11,262 units.

“In May, the company shut production from May 1 through May 16 so as to divert oxygen from industrial use for medical purposes. In May 2020, the company witnessed production disruption owing to lockdowns,” Maruti Suzuki India said in an official statement.

“Since neither of the two months had normal production, the sales volume of May 2021 are not comparable with May 2020,” it added.

In the mini sub-segment (Alto and S-Presso), the sales stood at 4,760 units while the compact sub-segment (WagonR, Celerio, Swift, Dzire, Tour S, Ignis and Baleno) registered sales of 20,343 units.

During the month, the mid-size subsegment (Ciaz) had sales of 349 units.