Around 4.01 Lakh passenger cars were sold in the Indian market in January 2025. Sales increased by a meager 2.1% over January last year and shot up by a mammoth 25% compared to December 2024.
January 2025 was a strategic month for the Auto Industry due to the Bharat Mobility Expo and lot of crucial launches were made. While Hyundai launched the much awaited Creta EV, Kia showcased the Syros again, Vinfast made its India debut and Maruti/Toyota duo highlighted the e-Vitara/Urban Cruiser. EVs were the flavor of the Expo and almost all OEMs had a vital EV showcase/launch.
In terms of retail business, January is always a dull month considering the preponement of purchase by discount seekers in December and the inherent price hike in Jan is also a deterrent. Rising raw material costs have forced carmakers to increase prices even as they offer discounts to pep up demand. January 2025 saw a flat increase over last year in terms of dispatches from OEM to dealers. The dispatches increased by a hefty 25% over last month citing inventory addition to dealerships. The OEMs which saw an increase were primarily supported by new launches - Mahindra (BE 6, XEV 9), Kia (Syros), MG (Windsor) and Skoda (Kylaq).
Maruti Suzuki registered its highest-ever total monthly sales in January 2025 with 2,12,251 units sold as against 199,364 units sold in January 2024. The OEM’s domestic dispatches stood at 1,73,599 vehicles and is also Maruti’s highest monthly domestic dispatches in the first 10 months of FY2025, even surpassing the festive heavy month of October 2024 when it had sold 1,59,591 units.
Hyundai jumped back to the second spot in the ranking table with dispatches of over 54k units. The volumes were primarily supported by Creta which recorded its all time high figures post the launch of EV trims.
Mahindra sold 50,659 vehicles in the domestic market in January 2025, a growth of 17.6% YoY. Veejay Nakra, President of Automotive Division, said, “Our Electric Origin SUVs, BE6 and XEV 9E garnered a lot of interest at the recently concluded Bharat Mobility Global Expo held in New Delhi.”
Tata Motor’s sales fell significantly with a notable drop in EV sales and was pushed to the fourth spot. The OEM registered sales of 48,075 units, down 10.4% YoY. It was however, the company’s EV sales that suffered the most. Tata registered 5,240 EV sales in the month, a significant drop of 25% over the same month last year, when EV sales accounted to 6,979 units.