India Becomes World’s 3rd Largest Auto Market After US & China

India has become the 3rd largest auto market in the world surpassing Japan. Nearly 40.25 lakhs cars were sold in 2022 across the country.

According to a Nikkei Asia study released on Friday, India for the first time eclipsed Japan in auto sales the previous year and climbed to third position globally. The number of new automobiles sold in the nation was at least 4.25 million, above Japan’s sales of 4.2 million.

As per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, 4.13 million new cars would be supplied in India between January and November of 2022.

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Adding the Maruti Suzuki sales number for December brings the total up to almost 4.25 million units, per ANI.

India’s sales volume is anticipated to increase even more with the inclusion of upcoming fourth-quarter commercial vehicle sales numbers as well as year-end results from Tata Motors and other automakers.

With 26.27 million automobiles sold worldwide in 2021, China continued to dominate the auto industry. With 15.4 million automobiles, the US remained in second place, and Japan came in third with 4.44 million.

A little under 4 million vehicles were sold in India in 2019, a significant decline from the approximately 4.4 million that were sold in 2018. 

This decline was mostly caused by the credit constraint that year, which affected the nonbank sector.

It further dropped below the 3-million threshold in 2020 as a result of the Covid-related lockout. 

Sales did increase to about 4 million units in 2021, but growth was constrained by a dearth of automotive chips, as per ANI.

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According to Nikkei Asia, gasoline-powered vehicles, including hybrids, made up the majority of the new cars sold in India last year; electric cars were hardly present. 

It is believed that vehicles marketed for the Indian market have fewer chips than those purchased in Western countries.

Nikkei Asia claims that the automotive chip crunch alleviation in 2022 acted as a springboard for a rebound. Along with Maruti Suzuki, other Indian automakers such as Tata Motors saw a boost in sales in 2016.