According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers,
new vehicles delivered in India totalled 4.13 million between January and
November 2022, the report says. India's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki sales
volume reported on Sunday takes the total to roughly 4.25 million units.
The report adds that the country's sales volume is expected
to rise further with the inclusion of pending fourth-quarter sales figures
for commercial vehicles. Tata Motors and other automakers are yet to
reveal their year-end results.
In
2021, China continued to lead the global auto market, with 26.27 million
vehicles sold. 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. Roughly 4.4 million vehicles were sold in 2018, but volume dipped
below 4 million units in 2019, due primarily to the credit crunch that hit the
nonbank sector that year.
When the Covid pandemic triggered a countrywide lockdown in
2020, vehicle sales plummeted further below the 3 million-unit mark. Sales
recovered in 2021 to approach 4 million units, but the shortage of automotive
chips weighed on growth.
Vehicles powered by gasoline, including hybrid vehicles,
accounted for most of the new autos sold in India last year, Nikkei Asia said,
adding that electric vehicles hardly have a presence. Autos for the Indian
market are seen having fewer semiconductors than those sold in advanced
economies.
According to Nikkei Asia, the easing of the automotive chip
crunch in 2022 provided a springboard for a recovery. Along with Maruti Suzuki,
Tata Motors and other Indian automakers saw sales grow during last year.
India
is home to 1.4 billion people, and its population is expected to outstrip China
sometime this year and continue growing until the early 2060s. Incomes are
rising as well.
Only
8.5 per cent of Indian households owned a passenger vehicle in 2021, according
to British research firm Euromonitor, meaning there is plenty of room for sales
growth. The government has started offering subsidies for EVs amid a trade
deficit resulting from petroleum imports.
In Japan, 4,201,321 vehicles were sold last year, down 5.6
per cent from 2021, according to data from the Japan Automobile Dealers
Association and the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association.
Nikkei Asia said the omicron epidemic and the lockdowns in
China greatly undercut production, leaving automakers unable to meet demand.
Japan's
auto sales peaked in 1990 at 7.77 million units, meaning sales have tumbled by
nearly half from the all-time high, according to Nikkei Asia. And the country's
declining population offers little prospect for a significant recovery in sales
in the foreseeable future.
According to Nikkei Asia, China surged past Japan to become
the second-largest auto market in 2006. In 2009, China overtook the US to
become the world's largest market.
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