India has overtaken Japan for the first time to become the third largest car market. The country sold at least 4.25 million new vehicles, exceeding Japan’s total. 4.2 million in 2022.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), a total of 4.13 million new vehicles were delivered in India between January and November 2022.
According to a news agency, ANI, this figure rose to around 4.25 million units after India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, announced its December sales figure on January 1 this year.
Japan sold 4.20 million vehicles last year, down 5.6 percent from 2021.The SIAM report noted that Indian sales are expected to increase due to expected fourth-quarter sales for commercial vehicles and year-end results from Tata Motors and other automakers.
China will lead the global car market in 2021 with 26.27 million vehicles sold, followed by the United States with 15.4million vehicles, followed by Japan with 4.44million vehicles.
Nikkei Asia said the Indian car market has been volatile in recent years. While almost million vehicles were sold in 2018, but sales fell below
million units in 2019, which was mainly due to the credit crunch experienced in the non-banking sector in the same year. Sales of vehicles in India fell further below 3 million in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns.
In 2021, vehicle sales in India recovered, nearly million units were sold in the country. However, the lack of a car chip slowed down growth.
Gasoline vehicles, including hybrids, will make up the majority of new car sales in India in 2022, Nikkei Asia said, adding that electric cars are almost nonexistent.
The scrap crisis in the automotive industry also began to ease last year, which was the starting point for the comeback. Apart from Maruti Suzuki, sales of Tata Motors and other Indian automakers grew last year.
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