As e-commerce gets a boost in recent times and the Government of India has been rolling out new infrastructure projects in many parts of the country, increased demand for commercial vehicles have been noted. Though still a long way to go, sales in this segment are inching towards pre-covid figures indicating that markets are on the road to recovery, provided the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic stays at bay.
Taking total commercial vehicle (CV) retail sales into account, July 2021 saw a total of 52,130 units retailed, up 165.94 percent over 19,602 units retailed in July 2020. It was however, a 24.84 percent decline over 69,361 units retailed in July 2019. Particular attention was seen in the case of M&HCV retails. LCV retails stood at 34,895 units in July 2021, up 119.66 percent over 15,886 units retailed in July 2020.
MCV sales were at 2,888 units, up 68.66 percent over 369 units retailed in July 2020 while HCV sales increased 867.24 percent YoY from 1,169 units retailed in July 2020 to 11,307 units in the past month. Apart from these, other CV sales stood at 3,040 units in July 2021, an increase of 39.58 percent as against 2,178 units sold in July 2020.
Every OEM reported increased retails sales in July 2021 over that of July 2020. Tata Motors once again topped the list with 19,126 units sold and commanding a market share of 36.69 percent. This was a significant increase over just 4,102 units retailed in July 2020 when market share was at 20.93 percent.
Late last month, Tata Motors launched a new variant of its small commercial vehicle (SCV), Ace Gold Petrol CX, price at Rs 3.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Pune). This vehicle is offered in two variants with the higher spec half-deck load body priced at Rs 4.10 lakh.
Mahindra retailed 14,215 commercial vehicles in the past month, commanding a market share of 27.27 percent. This was an increase over 9,029 units retailed in July 2020 with market share much higher at 46.06 percent.
Retail CV sales of Ashok Leyland in July 2021 were at 7,249 units up from 1,647 units retailed in July 2020. Market share also increased significantly from 8.40 percent to 13.91 percent YoY. Ashok Leyland has drawn up its new EV road map with plans to launch first e-LCV in December 2021. The vehicles will be produced in India and sold under the Switch brand while the company plans investment of $150-200 million in the EV space over the next couple of years.
Maruti Suzuki Super Carry Mini Truck has contributed heavily to the company’s retail sales which stood at 3,603 units in July 2021 up from 1,408 units retailed in July 2020. Maruti Suzuki Super Carry takes on the Tata Ace Gold and Mahindra Jeeto. It is ideally suited for last-mile cargo delivery segment and is affordably priced from Rs 4.14 lakhs and powered by petrol and CNG fuel options.
Lower down the order in terms of commercial vehicle retails sales were VE, Daimler and Force Motors, each of which posted significant growth YoY. VE commercial vehicle sales which had stood at 685 units in July 2020 increased to 2,807 units in the past month while Daimler retails increased from 232 units to 774 units YoY.
Force Motors on the other hand saw its retails increase from 149 units in July 2020 to 731 units in July 2021. Where other OEMs were concerned, sales increased from 2,253 units retailed in July 2020 to 3,224 units in the past month, while market share dipped from 11.49 percent to 6.18 percent YoY.