Commercial vehicle sales suffered some setbacks in 2024. As announced by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), several factors led to this lower demand among which were a subdued market sentiment, an economic downturn, elevated fuel costs and a delay in government funding. Unseasonal rains also hampered sales to a large extent causing buyers to put off sales to 2025 when new models could be introduced. The coming months could also spell some promise for the CV segment with a contingent on infra projects and improved credit approvals.
CV Retail Sales Dec 2024 Vs Dec 2023
In an earlier report we had detailed car retail sales through CY2024. This segment saw a 5.1% YoY (All-time high) growth. We now report on Commercial Vehicle (CV) which saw sales dip by 5.2% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in Dec 2024 while month-on-month (MoM) sales also fell by 12.1% over sales in Nov 2024. The tipper segment gained some traction though LCV segment faced some constraints. Year-end discounts, announced by several automakers also failed to steer buyers into company showrooms.
CV sales in Dec 2024 stood at 72,028 units. This was a 12.13% MoM decline from 81,967 units sold in Nov 2024 while it was a 5.25% drop from 76,010 units sold in Dec 2023. Sales dipped across all segments. LCV sales were down to 39,794 units in the past month, a 16.28% MoM and 7.05% YoY de-growth. MCV sales also fell by 14.82% MoM and by 6.52% YoY to 4,662 units in Dec 2024. There had been 5,473 units sold in Nov 2024 and 4,987 units sold in Dec 2023.
HCV sales stood at 22,781 units in Dec 2024, relating to a 6.79% MoM and 4.70% YoY de-growth. There were others in this segment that saw an increase in demand. Sales grew by 5.93% MoM and 11.29% YoY to 4,791 units in Dec 2024. This was over 4,523 unit sales and 4,305 unit sales of Nov 2024 and Dec 2023 respectively.
CV Retail Sales in CY2024
Taking into account commercial vehicle retail sales during the calendar year of 2024, more positive results were seen, primarily boosted by increased MCV sales. Total CV retail sales stood at 10,04,856 units during the period Jan-Dec 2024, up 0.07% over 10,04,120 units sold in the same 12 month period of 2023.
A break-up of these sales shows lower LCV sales which dipped by 0.72% to 5,58,207 units in CY2024, down from 5,62,239 units sold in CY2023. MCV sales on the other hand showed off a strong improvement in demand by 6.82% to 75,560 units in the past calendar year, a growth over 70,734 units sold in the corresponding period of 2023. HCV sales however, again suffered a setback of 2.94% to 3,17,568 units in CY2024 whereas there had been 3,27,202 unit sales seen in CY2023. Others in this segment witnessed a rather large 21.79% growth to 53,521 units, a healthy 10,000 unit increase from 43,945 unit sales of CY2023.
OEM-wise Breakup – CY24 Sales
Of a total of 10,04,856 unit sales in CY2024, almost all OEMs saw an increase in demand except for Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Daimler India that suffered from declining sales numbers. Tata Motors CV retail sales dipped to 3,45,928 units in CY2024 from 3,65,749 units sold in the same period of 2023. Market share also saw a sharp drop to 34.43% from 36.42%.
In contrast, Mahindra witnessed a dramatic increase in demand of CVs to 2,51,058 units in CY24 from 2,36,836 units sold in CY23 while market share jumped to 24.98%. Facing declining demand was Ashok Leyland, retail sales of which fell to 1,66,390 units in CY24 from 1,69,075 unit sales of CY23 thus taking market share down to 16.56%.
CV retail sales of VE Commercial Vehicles remained flat at 74,542 units in CY24, a marginal increase over 74,082 units sold in the same period of last year. Maruti Suzuki posted 43,582 unit sales in the past calendar year, a growth over 42,854 units sold in FY23 while Daimler retail sales fell to 20,985 units. Force Motors (18,452 units) and SML Isuzu (11,617 units) each saw increased retail sales in CY24 while there were others in this list that added 72,302 units to total CV sales in CY24, a marked increase from 68,808 units sold in the same period of last year.
OEM-wise Breakup – December 2024 Sales
In December 2024 sales analysis, it was Tata Motors that topped the sales charts with 24,185 units, but witnessed a 9.56% YoY decline in sales. Mahindra took 2nd place with 18,895 units sold last month, but was not a match the 19,722 units sold in Dec 2023, witnessing a 4.19% YoY decline. With 11,566 units, Ashok Leyland took 3rd place in CV sales, but saw a 3.84% drop YoY.
VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd and Maruti Suzuki CV sales fell close to each other at 4,504 and 3,543 units respectively. Only Maruti Suzuki registered a positive YoY growth of 10.54% YoY. Diamler AG and Force Motors sales fell close to each other at 1,579 and 1,127 units respectively. Both brands registered positive YoY growth over the performance from Dec 2023. SML Isuzu Ltd sales stood at 526 units and lastly, we have other brands with a total of 6,103 units sold. In total, CV sales for December 2024 stood at 72,028 units with a 5.23% YoY decline in sales.