Car sales in India: February 2024 turns out to be another record month

The Indian car market is on a boom with record wholesales month after month. Starting from January 2023, February 2024 was the 14th straight month, clocking the highest-ever volume for that month.

Also, the industry registered its third-best monthly despatches ever from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to dealerships in February 2024.

The passenger vehicle (PV) volume rose 11.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the domestic market at 373,177 units in February 2024 from 335,324 units in February 2023. While February 2023 witnessed the highest-ever February month volume till last year, February 2024 holds that record now.

The PV dealer despatches in February 2024 were only behind those seen in January 2024 at 394,500 units and October 2023 at 391,811 units.

While retail sales were lower than wholesales in February 2024, they were estimated to be 11.3% y-o-y higher during the month at around 335,900 units against 301,900 units in the same month last year.

During a select media briefing, Maruti Suzuki India’s Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, Shashank Srivastava, said that the difference between wholesale and retail is about 40,000 units, which have been added to the stock. The stock level is now at 300,000 units, translating into a stock of around 25-26 days in the industry, he added.