Chip scarcity offsets robust demand: Car gross sales in sluggish lane

Despite robust demand, scarcity of digital parts continued to harm automobile gross sales in September as main vehicle producers witnessed a decline in gross sales in September. Industry insiders mentioned if the chip scarcity concern continues, it should damage their gross sales prospect within the forthcoming festive season.
While Maruti Suzuki India posted a 57 per cent year-on-year decline in home wholesale dispatches at 63,111 items in September, Hyundai Motor India Limited, too, noticed a 34 per cent dip in gross sales in September at 33,087 items. Even Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda Cars India posted a fall in year-on-year gross sales of 11.6 per cent and 33.7 per cent respectively.
Among the main gamers, Tata Motors bucked the pattern because it introduced progress of 21.4 per cent with gross sales of 25,730 items in September, which included 1,078 items of electrical autos.

While Maruti had witnessed gross sales of 1,47,912 items in September 2020, the quantity dipped sharply final month as manufacturing was hit by chip scarcity. “Sales volume of the company in September 2021 was adversely impacted due to shortage of electronic components,” the corporate mentioned in its assertion.
Even Hyundai Motor mentioned that the “global semi-conductor supply constraint has adversely affected the vehicle production resulting in low dispatches in the month of September.”
Industry gamers say that demand has not been a difficulty and they’re constrained on the availability aspect. Rajesh Goel, director, advertising and gross sales at Honda Cars mentioned, “On demand side, there is good momentum in the market with improved buying sentiment. However, the supply chain hurdles including the widespread chip shortage has been a big challenge right now for the industry.”
As tempo of vaccinations improved and economic system has been reviving and witnessing progress in demand throughout sectors, trade sources say that the forthcoming festive season may have been led to progress for the sector however for the constraints on the availability of digital parts.

“Looking ahead, the demand for cars and SUVs is expected to remain strong in the forthcoming festive season; however, the supply situation for electronic components may continue to witness challenging times,” mentioned Shailesh Chandra, president, passenger autos enterprise unit, Tata Motors.