Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Livemint
Livemint
Business
Govind Choudhary

Kia, Tata Motors, Hyundai expect their sales to grow in 2023

Tata Motors' passenger vehicle sales outpaced industry growth last year to cross the five lakh units mark.

Tata Motors, which crossed five lakh cumulative wholesale mark in 2022, is hopeful of robust performance this year on the back of new launches as well as better traction for its internal combustion engine models, electric vehicles and CNG trims.

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director - Passenger Vehicle and Electric Vehicles, Tata Motors told PTI in an interaction, "It (sales growth) will be steep, hopefully, it will not be as steep as it was because the denominator used to be lower, now it is becoming higher."

On asking upon the sales growth, he said that double digit penetration is what the company is looking at.

On electric vehicle sales, which touched close to 43,000 units last year, Chandra noted that it is bound to increase with new products expected to hit the market.

"Absolutely, it has to. If we are adding a new product completely it should. That is the intention," he noted when asked if the company expects an increase in EV sales.

Tata Motors' passenger vehicle sales outpaced industry growth last year to cross the five lakh units mark.

"Obviously, the reason for this significant growth is the strengthening of our brand ... If you talk about Tata cars, these are synonymous with safety. And that is one big change that has come, the perception of the Tata brand," Chandra said.

Kia India VP and Head-Sales and Marketing Hardeep Singh Brar said the company expects to outpace the industry growth this year as well. "Last year, we grew by almost 40 per cent whereas the industry growth was about 23 per cent and we also saw our market share increase to 6.7 per cent from 5.9 per cent in 2021," he added.

He noted that the company expects headwinds in the industry because of inflation, higher interest costs in 2023.

"So we think five per cent would be a pretty good estimate from an overall industry perspective (in terms of growth). We have grown much more than industry..So yes, we would like to grow more than that...we would still like to hit at least double digit or more than that," Brar said.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing Director and CEO Unsoo Kim said that he sees the India economy very positively compared to other developed and developing countries. “India is growing faster as compared to other economies," adds Kim.

HMIL Chief Operating Officer Tarun Garg noted that 2022 was an exceptional year on a low base and the industry saw very good growth.

"Hyundai also saw good growth and the momentum should continue. At the same time, since now, the base is the highest -- as in 2022 we had the highest ever industry sales of (passenger vehicles) in the history of the Indian auto industry, the base effect will come. But I think we are quite optimistic about the industry," he said.

On HMIL's growth prospects this year, he said it will be very difficult to put a forecast as the current situation supply chain, especially that of semiconductors, is dynamic and the company has to "look at it month by month, quarter by quarter."

What the company learned is that not to look too much into the future and take it in small steps. You will arrive maybe at a much better number," Garg said.

(With inputs from PTI)

Catch all the Corporate news and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.