Maruti Suzuki’s market share usually hovers around the 50 percent mark but shot down drastically in September 2021 due to low production
The month of September is considered to be the start of the festive season in India and when the festivities ring in, businesses bloom. This also holds true for the country’s auto market with car and two-wheeler sales usually witnessing sizeable growths. However, in the past couple of years, many challenges have been thrown towards the auto industry.
For starters, the auto industry had to face adverse effects of shift to BS6. Then came Covid-19 pandemic, which affected businesses across all segments. The industry then had to combat the ongoing crisis of semiconductor chip shortage which has affected production of automobiles all across the world.
Maruti Market Share Takes Deep Plunge
The passenger vehicle segment has been the most affected by a shortage of semiconductor chips since cars require a large number of electronic devices on an average basis. Hence, many carmakers have witnessed a sharp downfall in sales since they have been unable to manufacture vehicles in a large quantity. A total of 1,85,908 cars were dispatched by automakers across the country which is a drastic fall from 2,92,858 units with a YoY decline of 36.52 percent.
The sharpest fall was witnessed by Maruti Suzuki which is the country’s largest car manufacturer by a fair margin. The company dispatched only 63,111 units across India last month while it dispatches at least a lakh units on an average monthly basis. This has also led to a fall in market share (MS) for the Indo-Japanese carmaker to 33.95 percent from 50.51 percent- a massive drop of 16.56 percent.
Maruti’s Loss Is Everyone Else’s Gain
Maruti’s nearest rival- Hyundai, had a market share of 17.80 percent last month which is a slight improvement from 17.18 percent in September 2020. Tata Motors registered an MS of 13.84 percent and witnessed the highest YoY growth of 6.60 percent. Kia’s market share grew from 6.38 percent in September last year to 7.77 percent.
Mahindra recorded an MS of 7.06 percent while during the same period last year the carmaker registered an MS of 5.07 percent. Toyota, Renault and Honda recorded MS of 5 percent, 3.94 percent and 3.64 percent respectively.
Rest of the brands such as MG, Skoda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Jeep and the latest entrant Citroen witnessed relatively smaller market shares. However, all automakers witnessed marginal growth in market share. Ford’s market share fell to 0 percent as it quit India operations last month.
That said, an increase in market share doesn’t necessarily translate to positive growth in sales volume. Passenger vehicle sales are not likely to improve drastically even during the festive season since the crisis over semiconductor chips shortages is far from over. Production of automobiles is expected to take a hit in the coming few months as well.
