Nikkei: India passes Japan to become world’s No. 3 auto market in 2022
09 January 2023
India’s sales of new vehicles totaled at least 4.25 million units, based on preliminary results, topping the 4.2 million sold in Japan, according to a Nikkei report.
New vehicles delivered in India totaled 4.13 million between January and November 2022, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Adding December’s sales volume reported Sunday by Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, brings the total to roughly 4.25 million units.
In Japan, 4,201,321 vehicles were sold in 2022, down 5.6% from 2021, according to data from the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association.
In 2021, China continued to lead the global auto market, with 26.27 million vehicles sold. The US remained second at 15.4 million vehicles, followed by Japan at 4.44 million units.
India’s 2022 sales volume is expected to rise further with the inclusion of pending fourth-quarter sales figures for commercial vehicles, along with year-end results yet to be released by Tata Motors and other automakers.
Vehicles powered by gasoline, including hybrid vehicles, accounted for most of the new autos sold in India last year. Electric vehicles hardly have a presence. Autos for the Indian market are seen having fewer semiconductors than those sold in advanced economies.
India is home to 1.4 billion people, and its population is expected to outstrip China sometime this year and continue growing until the early 2060s. Incomes are rising as well.
British research firm Euromonitor estimates that 8.5% of Indian households owned a passenger vehicle in 2021. A survey (National Family Health Survey 2019-5 (2019 - 2021)) released by India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare found that in India, an average of 7.5% of households owns a car, with the percentage varying broadly across states (e.g., 45.2% in Goa to 2% in Bihar). Per the same survey, 49.7% of Indian households owns a two-wheeler.
India intends to skip lithium battery chemistries, moving to other chemistries or hydrogen, most due to resource access considerations:
https://www.news9live.com/auto/ev-industry-must-ditch-lithium-batteries-switch-to-hydrogen-fuel-cells-union-minister-v-k-singh-194623?infinitescroll=1
Posted by: Davemart | 09 January 2023 at 01:58 AM
@Davemart
Well, I read your linked article. It is hard to make predictions especially about the future (taken from a quote from Yogi Berra -- see: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/03/the-50-greatest-yogi-berra-quotes ). Anyway, I do not think that they will end up going the hydrogen fuel cell route as I doubt that you can make a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that is less expensive to own than a lithium-ion electric vehicle especially if you want to use "green" hydrogen. India does not have s surplus of electric energy to start with and definitely does not have a surplus of clean energy. Also, I do not think that any of the other battery chemistries such as sodium ion that they mentioned will be commercially viable. If I were trying to make a lower cost electric vehicle for the Indian market, I would look at using Lithium Iron Phosphate and limit the battery size to 20 to 30 kWhr. Using Lithium Iron Phosphate still uses lithium but it does not require the more expensive nickle, manganese, or cobalt and is also safer. Even more affordable for most people would be an electric 2 or 3 wheeler with a battery that can be removed to be charged although it would not meet the US style safety standards. Maybe they can either find a domestic source of lithium if they look harder or they can just buy lithium from Australia.
Posted by: sd | 10 January 2023 at 08:00 PM