Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Second Wave Of Coronavirus Outbreak Badly Affected Car Sales In May 2021

We have seen the economic consequences of the lockdown last year itself. And now once again, many states and union territories are under strict lockdown-like restrictions to curb the spread of the covid19 pandemic. As a result, many sectors, including the auto industry, have reported a drop in sales in May 2021, ranging from -7% to -86%. Here we have mentioned the domestic sales figures of all major mass-market passenger vehicle companies and have compared them to the numbers of April 2021: – 

 

Rank by Volume

OEM

May 2021

April 2021

MoM Growth

Market Share

1

Maruti Suzuki

32,903

1,35,879

-76%

31.9%

2

Hyundai

25,001

49,002

-49%

24.2%

3

Tata

15,180

25,095

-40%

14.7%

4

Kia India

11,050

16,111

-31%

10.7%

5

Mahindra

8,004

18,186

-56%

7.8%

6

Renault

2,620

8,642

-70%

2.5%

7

Honda

2,032

9,072

-78%

2%

8

Volkswagen

1,425

1,533

-7%

1.4%

9

Nissan

1,235

3,369

-63%

1.2%

10

MG

1,016

2,565

-60%

1%

11

Ford

766

5,469

-86%

0.74%

12

Skoda

716

961

-25%

0.7%

13

Toyota

707

9,621

-93%

0.68%

14

FCA

475

846

-44%

0.46%

15

Citroen

40

230

-83%

0.003%

Total

1,03,170

2,86,582

-64%

100%

 

  • As the above table indicates, the auto industry has recorded a drastic drop in the month of May 2021. No carmaker has managed to come out unscathed amid the slowdown due to the ongoing pandemic.
  • Ford has taken the biggest hit last month, registering sales of just 766 units as compared to 5,796 units in April 2021. That's a huge decline of 86 percent.
  • In terms of volume, India's leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has registered the highest decline of around 1.03 lakh units. That is approximately double the overall sales of all the other OEMs. However, it still has the highest market share, accompanied by Hyundai & Tata Motors. 
  • Volkswagen has witnessed the least percentage drop last month, followed by Skoda and Kia Motors. 
  • The newcomer in the Indian market, Citroen, has ended up the last month with only 40 units sold against the 230 units in April 2021. In fact, it has registered the second-highest decline after Ford. 

It is important to note that many state governments have begun lifting restrictions in their respective regions, so some positive growth is expected in June 2021. However, this slowdown may prompt manufacturers to increase the prices of their products.

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