Kia India has introduced a scrappage incentive programme in line with the commitment to reduce environmental impact. 
Taking a significant step toward a greener future by launching an initiative that promotes sustainable mobility, Kia India – under the scrappage incentive programme – will enable customers to trade in or scrap their old cars, regardless of make or model in exchange for a brand-new Kia vehicle. 
The programme offers incentives across Kia's entire lineup, making it more affordable than ever to drive a new, feature rich vehicle with lower emissions. By offering the ‘Scrappage Incentive’ against the certificate of deposit, Kia India is encouraging responsible vehicle recycling while making it easier for customers to upgrade to the latest clean and advanced automotive technology. 
The initiative provides 1.5 percent or INR 20,000 (whichever is less) as an incentive on the ex-showroom price of any Kia vehicle purchased when customers trade-in or scrap their old car.
Speaking about the development, Hardeep Singh Brar, Senior Vice-President – Sales and Marketing, Kia India, averred, "At Kia, we have always been committed to supporting clean, sustainable mobility solutions. This scrappage incentive initiative is not only aligned with the government’s scrappage mandate but also reflects our dedication to empowering customers to make environmentally responsible choices. We are proud to assist our customers in transitioning to more efficient, lower-emission vehicles while also encouraging the eco-friendly recycling of old cars."

Image for representative purpose only.
 

The first day of the new year has come with a slew of unexpected numbers for the automotive industry in India. In December 2024, automakers reported a wide variation in their wholesales ranging from strong robust double-digit growth to flat growth to even negative sales in the domestic market.

The country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India reported sales of 130,117 units in December 2024, up 24 percent YoY, as against 104,778 units for the same period last year.

Hyundai Motor India clocked 42,208 units for the same period, down 1.3 percent YoY, which it said was on the back of strong headwinds faced by the industry.

Tarun Garg, Whole-time Director and Chief Operating Officer, Hyundai Motor India, said, “HMIL has managed to sustain sales momentum in 2024, despite strong headwinds faced by the industry at large. Achieving highest ever domestic sales three years in a row, reflects customers’ preference for brand Hyundai as their trusted smart mobility solutions provider. Introduction of the innovative Hy-CNG Duo technology in 2024 resonated well with buyers, translating to the highest-ever CNG contribution of 13.1 percent to HMIL’s domestic sales in CY 2024, against 10.4 percent in CY 2023. By achieving highest ever yearly domestic sales of 1,86,919 units, Hyundai Creta continued to strengthen HMIL’s position as an SUV leader, helping HMIL accomplish highest ever domestic SUV contribution of 67.6 percent in CY 2024. We are confident that the upcoming Creta Electric, will further expand the appeal of this undisputed, ultimate SUV.”

Mumbai-based SUV maker Mahindra & Mahindra has constantly witnessed strong growth momentum on the back of its product offensive. The company clocked wholesales of 41,424 units, which was 17 percent higher YoY, as compared to 35,174 units for the same period last year.

Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra, stated, “We sold 41,424 SUVs, a growth of 18 percent and 69,768 total vehicles, a growth of 16 percent in December. The year ended on a high, as we became the only Indian auto company to attain the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) world leader status within the Auto Sector. The DJSI ranking is one of the most respected global benchmarks for ESG performance, covering over 13,000 companies across various industries and we are ranked 1st among all global auto OEMs.”

Toyota Kirloskar Motor on its part sold 29,529 vehicles, which was 29 percent higher than 22,867 units sold for the same period last year.

Sabari Manohar, Vice-President, Sales-Service-Used Car Business, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, "We are immensely proud to close 2024 with a record-breaking performance, achieving an impressive 40 percent year-on-year growth. The SUV and MPV segments being key contributors grew at 20 percent over the same period last year. We are also observing a growing shift of consumer preferences towards vehicles offering sustainability, value proposition of dependability quotient, enhanced safety and better resale value which is boosting our sales.”

JSW MG Motor India’s bet on electric vehicles seems to have started to pay off. The company reported a 55 percent growth (albeit a low-year ago base) in December 2024 with sales of 7,516 units, as against 4,484 units last year.

Interestingly, the company witnessed 70 percent of its sales coming from its electric vehicle portfolio with the Windsor EV alone contributing sales of 3,785 units.

“The Windsor EV emerged as a market leader, despite market challenges. Our innovative Battery-As-A-Service offering and customer-centric mobility solutions continue to shape the future of India’s automotive landscape. Going forward, we will maintain our growth momentum while driving continuous disruption and innovation,” the company said in a statement.

Nissan Motor India reported sales of 2,118 units in the domestic market, which was down 1.5 percent as against 2,150 units sold for the same period last year. On the other hand, the company also announced that its popular Magnite SUV has crossed 10,000 booking milestone at the start of the new year.

Saurabh Vatsa, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India, said, “The year 2024 marked a transformative phase for Nissan in India as we embarked on the turnaround and introduced new models like the 4th Generation Nissan X-Trail and the new Nissan Magnite. This historic best sales performance in December also reflects the continued trust and enthusiasm of customers for our vehicles in both domestic and international markets. Our recent network expansion into cities like Nashik and Gorakhpur, along with the goal of achieving 300 touchpoints by the end of this fiscal year, reflects our focus on enhancing customer reach and experience across the country.”

“We remain committed to our dealers, partners and stakeholders in India and are focused on delivering the India turnaround plan. We are optimistic about building on this momentum to deliver even more value to our customers in the year ahead,” added Vatsa.

Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles reported a flat growth of 7,545 units as against 7,468 units it sold in the same month last year.

Bajaj Auto reported a negative growth of 19 percent with sales of 1,28,335 two-wheelers as against 1,58,370 two-wheelers it sold last year.

For Tata Motors, while the PV wholesales was in the green, the CV sales were in the red.

In December 2024, Tata Motors sold 44,230 passenger vehicles, up 1.7 percent, as against 43,470 units sold last year. On the other hand, the CV sales came at 32,369 units, down 0.9 percent, as against 32,668 units sold for the same period last year.

Girish Wagh, Executive Director, Tata Motors Ltd. said, “Sales in December 2024 were around 24 percent higher than those recorded in November 2024. Propelled by a resurgence in construction and mining activities post-monsoon, plus the festive season demand. Looking ahead, we expect demand to improve in Q4 FY25 across most segments of the CV industry. The key aspects to watch out in 2025 will be government’s focus on infrastructure spend, and growth in end use segments, which will augur well for the commercial vehicles industry.”

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, said, “The PV industry posted moderate growth in CY24 and is expected to touch a sales volume of 4.3 million units, with strong growth in the SUV segment and sustained traction for emission-friendly powertrains. In Q3 FY25, the industry saw a strong revival, driven by increased retails in the festive season. For Tata Motors, CY24 was the fourth consecutive year of highest-ever annual sales with 565,000 units sold. We registered strong growth in our SUV portfolio with successful product introductions built on our proven multi-powertrain strategy. CNG volumes grew a substantial 77 percent with over 120,000 CNG vehicles sold in CY24. SUV volumes grew a robust 19 percent, with Punch selling over 200,000 units to emerge as the highest selling car model in India in CY24. Looking ahead, we remain optimistic about the outlook for the PV industry. With multiple product launches, innovations and a strengthened multi-powertrain strategy, Tata Motors is well poised for further growth in CY2025.”

Monthly registrations of new passenger cars in Europe in November 2024 declined by 1.7 percent year on year. According to data from JATO Dynamics, 1,054,043 units were registered across 28 European markets in November, taking the year-to-date volume of new vehicle registrations to 11,847,573 units, an increase of just 0.8 percent compared to the corresponding period last year.

In November, Europe’s ‘big five’ automakers – Volkswagen Group, Stellantis, Renault Group, BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Group – were responsible for 65 percent of total sales. Japan’s carmakers followed with a 13 percent market share, while Korean brands were responsible for 7.5 percent of total sales.

The United States came next, with Tesla and Ford accounting for 5.9 percent of total monthly registrations, while China’s carmakers held 6.7 percent market share last month. Growth in November came from Renault Group (+8.6 percent), Toyota (+9.8 percent) and Geely (+16 percent). By contrast, double-digit drops in registrations were posted by Stellantis, Hyundai-Kia, Ford, Tesla and Nissan; Germany’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW also posted losses last month.

November 2024 also saw significant changes from a brand perspective. Skoda occupied third position in the monthly rankings, thanks to strong sales of its Fabia, Enyaq and Kodiaq models. Volvo overtook Vauxhall/Opel, while both MG and Cupra surpassed Fiat, which recorded a 39 percent drop in registrations following the discontinuation of the gasoline-powered model of its Fiat 500.

Elsewhere, Porsche outsold Land Rover, BYD registered more units than Honda, Omoda moved ahead of Subaru, and Xpeng registered more vehicles than Jaguar or Lancia.

BEVs gain market share

While overall registrations trended downwards, demand for BEVs in Europe increased by 0.8 percent year on year. The market share of BEVs increased to 17.4 percent in November 2024, compared to 17.0 percent in November 2023. Growth was strongest in the UK (+58 percent), Netherlands (+44 percent), Norway (+30 percent) and Belgium (+17 percent), while demand fell by 25 percent and 22 percent in France and Germany respectively.

Electric models from Volkswagen Group accounted for 26 percent of monthly BEV registrations in Europe last month, with volumes up 16 percent. By contrast, Tesla posted a 28 percent drop in volumes as it continues to navigate delays associated with the updated model of its Model Y. It was the second largest seller of BEVs, followed by BMW Group and Stellantis, which occupied third and fourth place respectively.

Chinese automakers shine

The standout performances of the month came from China’s automakers, which combined registered more than 24,100 units of BEVs in November (including Volvo, Polestar and Lotus), just behind Tesla. China’s automakers increased market share in the BEV category, from 12.5 percent in November 2023 to 13.2 percent last month. Growth was driven by Leapmotor (+296 percent), BYD (+127 percent), Xpeng (+93 percent) and Geely (+33 percent).

The curious case of Dacia Sandero

Going from strength-to-strength, the Dacia Sandero ranked among the top ten in the monthly model rankings in November 2024. The Volkswagen Tiguan, Peugeot 208, Toyota Yaris and Volkswagen T-Roc recorded the highest year-on-year growth. The Dacia Sandero consolidated its position as the region’s most popular passenger car and widened the gap from the Volkswagen Golf, which is second in the year-to-date ranking. Other strong performers in November include the Renault Captur, Toyota C-HR, Skoda Fabia, Peugeut 3008, Skoda Kodiaq, Jeep Avenger, BMW Series 5, and Suzuki Swift, among others

Almost every passenger vehicle OEM in India has announced a price hike of its vehicles between three and five percent starting January 2025. Even some commercial vehicle manufacturers have announced that they will hike the prices of their vehicles starting January 2025 owing to the increase in input costs, rise in operational expenses and inflation. 
While the annual inflation rate in India eased to 5.48 percent in November of 2024 from 6.21 percent in the previous month loosely in line with market expectations of 5.5 percent, according to a report by tradingeconomics.com, the increase in automobile prices by three to five percent is expected to dampen the market sentiment at least for the short term. 
If the spike in auto sales during the festive season provided a reason to cheer, the first half of the current fiscal saw many segments registering a slowdown in sales. The extent of this was also indicated by the automotive dealers’ body, the Federation Of Automotive Dealers Association rising in favour of its dealer members to urge automakers to adjust their production schedule in the wake of the inventory at dealers reaching an alarming level. 
The festive season helped to lower the inventory build up of vehicles to a certain extent. However, with the last quarter of this fiscal expected to be a sluggish period for auto sales as it traditionally is considered to be, the news of hike in GST on old and used vehicles from 12 percent to 18 percent is likely to cause some shake up in the used vehicle market that has seen better times in the recent few months as more and more aspiring motorists turn to used cars because of budget constraints and other factors. 
Despite the higher interest rate of above 13.5 percent in case of used vehicles as compared to the interest rate of between eight to 10 percent for new vehicles, the pull for them has been high in the recent times. This is likely to be affected if and when the GST Council’s fitment committee clears the proposal to change the GST on old and new vehicles with an engine capacity of no bigger than 1,200 cc and length of no more than four metre as mentioned above. Even electric vehicles that attract a GST of five percent when bought new will see the GST on them hiked to 18 percent from 12 percent if the proposal goes through. 
While the logic that the hike in GST on used and old vehicles will increase the sale of new small vehicles is hard to understand when applied against the fact that an entry-level vehicle like the Maruti Alto K10 today looks cost to buy at a price of INR 470,000 on-road Mumbai for the basic trim. Also, the sales of it have been steadily shrinking with a trend visible of a rising demand for SUVs. 
Even an entry-level SUV with Maruti S-Presso costs INR 499,000 on-road in Mumbai for the basic trim. The ones like Hyundai Exter or Renault Kiger costs INR 721,000 and INR 705,000 on-road in Mumbai for basic trim variant. 
With prices of vehicles in India claimed to have gone ‘over the roof’, not counting the hike in January 2025, a proposal to hike the GST on luxury automobiles to 35 percent is said to be under consideration. 
Against such a background it would be worth understanding the taxt structure on automobiles in the country to anticipate what an increase from 28 percent GST to 35 percent GST would entail. Passenger Vehicles (Petrol, CNG, LPG) measuring no longer than four metre in length and having an engine of no more than 1,200 cc are taxed at 28 percent. With a compensation cess of one percent, the total tax rate applied in 29 percent. 
Passenger vehicles (diesel) measuring no more than four metre in length and having an engine of no more than 1,200 cc are taxed at 28 percent. With a compensation cess of three percent, the applied rate is 31 percent. Passenger vehicles with an engine of no more than 1,500 cc are taxed at 28 percent. With compensation cess of 17 percent, the applied rate is 45 percent. 
Passenger vehicles with an engine of more than 1,500 cc are taxed at 28 percent. With compensation cess, the applied rate is 48 percent. SUVs that measure above four metre in length, having an engine of more than 1,500 cc and a ground clearance of more than 170 mm are taxed at 28 percent. With compensation cess of 22 percent, the applied rate is 50 percent. 
Hybrid vehicles measuring up to four metre and having an engine of no more than 1,200 cc are taxed at 28 percent. Hybrid vehicles measuring more than four metre in length and having an engine of more than 1,200 cc (petrol) and 1,500 cc (diesel) are taxed at 28 percent. With compensation cess of 15 percent, the applied rate is 43 percent. 
Public transport vehicles of between 10 and 13 seats are taxed at 28 percent. With compensation cess of 15 percent, the applied rate is 43 percent. In the case of buses above 13 seats and goods transport vehicles, the applier GST rate is 28 percent. 
In the case of two- and three-wheelers the GST is 28 percent. With a compensation cess of three percent on two-wheelers above 350 cc, the applied rate for them is 28 percent. Electric vehicles, on the other hand, attract a GST of five percent. For hydrogen vehicles it is 12 percent. 
Besides GST plus compensation cess, there are other State Government and Union Government taxes such as the road tax, 18 percent GST on insurance (an insurance of three years is applied on some class of vehicles including two-wheelers at the time of purchase), toll tax, tax on fuel etc that effective push the tax percentage for every vehicle bought to a considerably higher level. 
The talk of luxury vehicles – which whether one should assume would be premium two-wheelers above 350 cc; passenger vehicles that measure more than four metre and have an petrol engine of more than 1,200 cc and a diesel engine of more than 1,500 cc, and hybrid vehicles measuring more than four metre in length and having an engine of more than 1,200 cc in petrol and 1,500 cc in diesel – being pushed to the 35 percent GST slab that is under consideration may elevate the tax percentage in the price tag to well above 50 percent. This is without including the other taxes mentioned above. 
An article in the Telegraphindia.com dated 4 December 2024 reports that the proposal of the Group of Ministers (GoM) for 35 percent GST for sin goods that are currently taxed at 28 percent has created uncertainty regarding the taxation of automobiles as well. This is particularly the case because they are taxed on par with sin goods like cigarettes and aerated drinks.
While the GoM is only a recommending body and the GST Council the ‘actual deciding’ organisation, an early clarity on whether automobiles/vehicles will be separated from sin goods as they contribute to people’s mobility and the nation’s supply chain would help it looks like.   
As a slowdown continues based on inflation, rise in input prices and operational expenses, the news of increase in some segments of small old and used vehicles as well as the proposal to elevate GST on sin goods from 28 percent to 35 percent is creating new reason for some sectors to worry about. The effect of such occurrence on the economy and on the market is necessary to consider as automobiles have always been described as luxury goods and taxed on par with sin goods, said an industry observer.
The demand of the auto sector to reduce GST on automobiles has never been entertained, which further emphasises that automobiles – even a commuter scooter or a truck – are considered as luxury goods bordering on sin goods, he added. 
The move to tax a section of the new vehicles such as those with a petrol engine of more than 1,200 cc and a diesel engine with more than 1,500 cc to 35 percent is certain to have a profound effect on the auto industry which is being pushed to become a key manufacturing hub in the world. 
The jump through various regulations has already affected the prices of vehicles across the last decade or two. It has made it hard for some aspiring individuals and families to even afford entry-level passenger vehicles.  
India has 34 cars per 1,000 people whereas key automotive markets that are also the key manufacturing hubs have up to 594 cars per 1,000 people. For India to be a key automotive manufacturing hub like China, the observer said, it must first create a market at home where high quality vehicles are taxed such that a larger section of population can afford them, use them and be truly a part of the economic progress the country is achieving. 
The demand for large cars and congestion in many Indian cities makes a ripe case of small cars, small electric cars being used as city commuting machines over two-wheelers, he added. 
“Excessive taxation on sectors like housing and automobiles should not create a situation where the hen that lay golden eggs was killed to find a treasure trove of gold but what was found was just a lifeless body of her,” he signed off. 
 

Image for representative purpose only. 

The prestigious Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 event is scheduled to be held from 17-22 January 2025 across three separate venues spread across Delhi NCR.  In addition to the esteemed Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the global expo will be held this year in the India Expo Centre & Mart in Greater Noida and Yashobhoomi in Dwarka.

The exhibition showcases cutting-edge innovations and accomplishments across the automotive and mobility value chain, celebrating India's emerging role as a global powerhouse for mobility. It is inspired by the Prime Minister of India's 7Cs mobility agenda. The global expo, which is already in its second year, will once more bring the whole mobility value chain together under one roof. The goal of the expo is to become the world's largest gathering of mobility players and build on the success of its first edition, which took place in January 2024.

With a total area of nearly 200,000 square metres, the venues will host nine concurrent shows and more than 500,000 guests. Given that it is anticipated to draw over 5,000 international buyers – more than 10 times the number of attendees from the first edition of the expo – special attention is being paid this time to the expo's global relevance. As the industry comes together to define the future, this exhibition is a tribute to India's dedication to sustainable transportation solutions and engineering excellence. More than 1,500 exhibitors from all around the world will be present at the event.

Pankaj Chadha, Chairperson, EEPC (Engineering Export Promotion Council) India, said, "The Bharat Mobility Expo 2025 exemplifies India's dedication to innovation and excellence in the mobility sector. This event will not only highlight the latest advancements but also promote collaboration and growth within the industry. We are honoured to unite such a diverse group of stakeholders to co-create the future of mobility."