The year 2020 gone by has been a challenging year for all. The auto industry saw its toughest challenge to date and it not only survived the scare but came out triumphant.
It all started in the 1st quarter of the Calendar year [Jan to March]. The pandemic hit the country hard. Car purchase was assumed as a luxury of the rich when people were struggling to meet their basic necessities. Fast forward to the next quarter the car purchase was blessed with not only the pent-up demand but the car buying had turned into a necessity for safe mobility.
Such was the case of the rise in demand, that we have experienced waiting periods of over 100 days for many models in the last calendar year.
Below is a snapshot of the performance of the car industry for the Calendar year 2020.
As an Industry, it degrew by about: 5,08,743 numbers. From a % perspective, it’s about -17%. The chart below shows the overall volume perspective.
On a closer look if we divide the entire year into 4 quarters.
JAN, FEB & MARCH : AS QUARTER 1
APRIL , MAY & JUNE : AS QUARTER 2
JULY, AUG & SEPT: AS QUARTER 3
OCT, NOV & DEC : AS QUARTER 4
The first two quarters have clearly exhibited the impact of the pandemic. The industry was on its back foot.
However, when we look at Q3 and Q4 of the Calendar Year, the Industry has much to cheer about. A whopping growth of 17% was achieved in Q3 and 15% in Q4.
With the current momentum and the need for hygienic personal mobility at its peak. The Trend seems very positive and supportive.
For ease of understanding, we have further broken own the trend at a monthly level. This will help us understand exactly when we experienced a positive recovery. The industry was hit hard in the month of March.
April saw the first month of Zero Wholesale across. The recovery started from the month of May and June.
However, actual story of growth caught up in the month of July and every since there was no looking back.
Calendar Year 2020: Volumes Month on Month
With H2 of the calendar year delivering growth of 2,20,988+. It is evident that the growth trajectory is not a temporary phenomenon and is here to stay for a healthy time period.
While those who have ridden the wave with the positivity of new launches have made merry during the period. And those who failed to get the act together, have not made the best of the Calendar Year 2020.
Happy New Year 2021 and hope the auto industry breaks many more records in CY 2021.
(This article was written by Aamir Ahmed, an auto zealot at heart, and a rev-head by profession. You can connect with him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aamir-ahmed-b0688423/)
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