Turtle Wax, a global name in the car care industry, entered the Indian market this year. With its aggressive plans and the ongoing demand for car care products, the company aims at becoming one of the largest care car product suppliers in Doing It Yourself (DIY) segment, besides, establishing a strong presence in Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) space.

According to Sajan Murali Puravangara, Country Manager and Director, Turtle Wax India, the car care industry is an integral part of the automotive industry, and changing buying preference from the mileage, and low maintenance to aesthetics, safety, comfort and features are fuelling demand for car care products.

“India has been witnessing good growth in car sales in last decade, whereas in the last five years, we see traction in the car care industry on account of changing trends or reasons to buy a car. In recent years, the way people look at the car has changed. They buy cars for the looks and features, and that also led to an interest to keep their cars new, tidy and clean; this is bringing demand for car care products. The interest is also coming from the mass car segment. In the last two years, we are getting the indication that the car care industry will be the next sunshine industry in the future,” explained Puravangara.

Turtle Wax, a family-owned company, has been in the car care business for nearly 75 years and operates in over 120 countries. Before establishing its third subsidiary in India, the company has been operating with two subsidiaries- the US and Europe.

India has a population over 1.3 billion and only 22 people out of a thousand own car, while in the US and UK, 980 and 850 per 1,000 individuals have a car, respectively. The massive headroom for the car segment in the next one-and-a-half-decade will trigger further growth for the car care segment in the long term, opines Puravangara.

According to a research report, the current car care industry in India is slightly less than one billion USD and expected to reach $1.44 billion in 2027. Explaining the growth factors, the report says, people usually keep their cars for more than seven years in India, and hence car care products are being increasingly used to restore the paint and for detailing and interiors. Along with this, many car care product manufacturers from Europe and North American markets have their presence in India through e-commerce websites and strong dealership networks. The same report adds that by 2027, the interior car care product segment will be around of $0.73 billion, while the exterior car product market will grow to USD 0.7 billion.

Consumer behaviour, cheap labour, and lack of necessary know-how make the Indian car care industry more challenging for the companies to operate in the DIY space.

In western countries, cars are a part of the family, and family members take basic care. In the US and other developed countries, the DIY segment is about 80 percent of the total car care industry; however, in India, it is of around 30 percent. “In countries like India, due to the hectic work schedule and cheap labour, DIFM dominates in the car care segment. There is always a third person to take basic care of cars in India. Coupled with this, the know-how is fairly lower in India when it comes to basic things such what wax can do to your car and what are the ways to protect cars’ interior and exterior,” Puravangara said.

However, the pandemic in the last eight months has proven useful for the car care segment. “We have seen momentum in the DIY business in the last six months. Since people have been at home, they have a lot of time at their disposal. They find time to take care of their cars. We are also seeing people are increasingly enquiring on different social media platforms on how to take care of their cars and sharing other issues,” he said.

As a part of the strategy to penetrate its products, the company will heavily focus on educating consumers on primary car care and the company’s products. “Being a global leader in the car care industry, it is our top priority to educate people on car care, know-how and our product usages and benefits.”

In the next three to four months, the company will start campaigns on social media channels. The campaign will invite consumers with their queries or to share their experience and issues.

“The company will also bring out videos on how to use our products and use the social influencers on YouTube and Instagram,” Puravangara said.

Though India is seeing a growing number of women behind in the wheel, the car care industry is yet to consider women as their potential customers. However, Turtle Wax understands the role of women in the overall automotive industry and expects the growing number of women car owners evidently will reflect in the car care industry.

To widen its customer base, the company will also promote the car wash as a family celebration where family members will take participate in washing, cleaning and taking care of the car. “Washing and cleaning cars is a family affair in many countries, and therefore the company will be promoting the same in India as well,” added he.

However, external factors that also possess further challenges for car care products. Considering vast territories, different weather, pollutions and scarcity and quality of water put car care product performance under severe pressure. Keeping the external challenges in mind, the company plans to bring in products that are suitable to the Indian markets.

“A larger challenge is not only the availability of water but the hard water which leaves marks on the car. Coupled with this, extreme temperature and dust and pollution affect the car. We are bringing in the products that will take care of cars in the Indian environment. We have asked the company to make products suitable for the Indian market,” said the executive.

Currently, the company offers the products required to clean, shine and protect the car inside out. The product portfolio includes shampoo to clean, wax to shine and various interior cleaners in the form of foam and liquid to clean the interiors of the car. It also offers various speciality products like trim restorer, chrome polish, headlight lens restorer, Odor-X Odor removing solutions, etc. to address specific car care requirements. Turtle Wax also has a ceramic coating that has 10H hardness which gives the high gloss, ultra-hydrophobicity, extreme chemical resistance, UV protection and easy cleaning properties. The company plans to bring in graphene-based ceramic coating solutions, which is the new technology in the car care industry.

The company is planning to bring 75th-anniversary Ceramic Paste Wax in Q1 2021, and will also introduce windshield washer fluid shortly in India. Other products from the company for the India market include all-metal polish that polishes all metal surfaces of the car’s exterior; Glass cleaner to keep the glass streak-free during the ride; ClearVue Rain Repellent that helps get better visibility during the monsoon rains; Trim Restorer since the Trims fades here in India more than the rest of the world and Windscreen washer fluid to remove the dirt and grime from the windshield glass.

The company will also introduce waterless washing products that cater to areas where water is scarce. The company’s waterless wash and wax has advanced polymer technology that lifts dirt to prevent starching, while the enriched wax gives a shiny and protective finish. Its rain repellent formula prevents watermarks and extends time in between cleaning.

The company will also bring in its Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions ICE Seal N Shine, premium car paint sealant. The ICE Seal N Shine gives the car a layer of super-hydrophobic silicone for up to six months of protection against streaks, scratches and swirls.

To set up its network, the company will go through a distribution route and for which it has selected 23 cities, which have larger car density. Turtle Wax India is appointing own distributors in these cities who will take care of retailers and workshops. It has also identified another 48 towns in which it will supply products to dealers who will provide the products in the respective markets.

“We will have our main presence in all metro cities including Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, and additional upcoming cities like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Cochin, Surat etc,” he added.

The company plans to have about 10,000 outlets by the end of next June. Turtle Wax India has also set up the car care studios in Pune, Bangalore and New Delhi. The studio will be not based on a franchise concept; instead, it will be a co-branded activity. “We provide our products and branding support, but the studios also keep their brand identity,” he said. The company also has plants to have such studios in its 23 cities.

Puravangara declined to share the current revenue and future commercial targets but said sales numbers are increasing with each passing month. Currently, the company is importing its products from global subsidiaries, but he said the company will have a look into setting up local production capabilities. “The way it is going, we will have to do something locally as well. I don’t think we will be able to manage (the demand) with our global support when the demand goes up,” he said.

The company is looking for an option of re-packaging under which it will get bulk products and repack for the domestic market. “We will also see if some India oriented products will be manufactured here, completely. Those options are quite open,” he added.

Many Indians are using hair shampoo sachets to wash cars. When asked whether the company is looking to introduce car wash shampoo in sachets, he said it will not look into sachet option but will be looking to have a bottle of 100 to 200 ml. “We are still looking at those options of small bottles, but per wash, cost increases with smaller bottles,” he added.

Talking on the challenges, he said, it is on finalising the complete product portfolio that suits to the rapidly changing requirements of the Indian market. “We need to keep reinventing on products to be a leader in the market,” he concluded. (MT)

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Automotive wholesales for May 2025 showcased a dynamic landscape for the Indian automotive industry, with OEMs experiencing distinct sales trajectories. From significant growth in the two-wheeler segment to some PV makers facing headwinds, the month provided an indicative picture of shifting consumer preferences and market conditions.

Hero MotoCorp, the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, dispatched 507,701 motorcycles and scooters in May 2025, showing both sequential and annual growth. The company maintained strong market momentum with 500,000 VAHAN registrations.

Hero MotoCorp's global retail performance also showed robust momentum, particularly in Bangladesh and Colombia, with exports maintaining a steady trajectory. The electric vehicle brand, VIDA, powered by Hero MotoCorp, delivered growth with dispatches of 8,361 units and 7,161 VAHAN registrations for the VIDA V2 electric scooter range, achieving a 7.2 percent VAHAN market share.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) recorded total sales of 465,115 units in May 2025. Domestic sales for HMSI stood at 417,256 units. The company's exports contributed 47,859 units to the total sales figure.

TVS Motor Company demonstrated impressive overall sales growth in May 2025, increasing by 17 percent to 431,275 units from 369,914 units in May 2024. Domestic two-wheeler sales registered growth of 14 percent, increasing from 271,140 units in May 2024 to 309,287 units in May 2025. Motorcycle sales saw a 22 percent increase to 211,505 units, scooter sales grew by 15 percent to 166,749 units and electric vehicle sales surged by 50 percent to 27,976 units. The company's international business (exports) also saw growth of 22 percent.

Royal Enfield experienced a significant surge in May 2025, posting monthly sales of 89,429 motorcycles, marking a robust 26 percent increase compared to the same month last year. The company's domestic sales contributed significantly to this performance. A key driver for this growth was the outstanding performance in exports, which soared by 82 percent to 13,609 motorcycles, up from 7,479 units in May 2024.

Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest passenger vehicle maker, reported total sales of 180,077 units in May 2025, demonstrating a 3.17 percent growth compared to 174,551 units sold in May 2024. Domestic sales, including Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), stood at 138,690 units, experiencing a 5.46 percent decline from 146,694 units in May 2024. Sales to other OEMs also saw a marginal dip of 3.07 percent, reaching 10,168 units in May 2025. Conversely, exports surged by 79.76 percent YoY, totalling 31,219 units in May 2025 compared to 17,367 units in May 2024. Within passenger vehicles, while the Mini and Compact segment saw a decrease in sales, the Utility Vehicles segment demonstrated slight growth.

Tata Motors presented a contrasting picture, with total sales in the domestic and international markets for May 2025 standing at 70,187 units, a decline from 76,766 units in May 2024. Domestic sales for Tata Motors were 67,429 units, with Commercial Vehicle (CV) domestic sales at 25,872 units (a 9 percent year-on-year decrease) and Passenger Vehicle (PV) sales at 42,040 units (an 11 percent decline). In terms of international business for commercial vehicles (CV IB), Tata Motors saw a significant increase of 87 percent to 2,275 units.

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) reported total monthly sales of 58,701 units in May 2025. Domestic sales for HMIL were 43,861 units. The company noted that the availability of some critical models was impacted due to a scheduled biannual plant maintenance shutdown during the month. Export sales for HMIL reached 14,840 units.

Mahindra & Mahindra, the SUV specialist, reported robust sales performance in May 2025, with overall auto sales reaching 84,110 vehicles, marking a significant 17 percent YoY growth. This was largely driven by the Utility Vehicles (UV) segment, which saw domestic sales rise by 21 percent to 52,431 units, contributing to a total of 54,819 UVs sold including exports. The commercial vehicles segment also performed well domestically, recording 21,392 units. Exports saw exceptional growth, surging by 37 percent to 3,652 units in May 2025.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) continued its positive sales momentum in May 2025, reporting a total of 30,864 units sold, a 22 percent growth over May 2024. Domestic sales played a crucial role, reaching 29,280 units. The company also contributed to exports with 1,584 units.

Kia India maintained its strong growth trajectory for the fifth consecutive month in May 2025, dispatching 22,315 vehicles in the domestic market. This performance reflects a healthy 14.43 percent year-on-year growth when compared to the 19,500 units sold in May 2024.

Ashok Leyland saw a 5 percent increase in its total domestic vehicle sales in May 2025, reaching 14,534 units, up from 13,852 units in May 2024. This growth was primarily driven by its Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle (M&HCV) segment, with M&HCV Trucks increasing by 12 percent to 7,466 units and M&HCV Buses growing by 1 percent to 1,920 units. Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) domestic sales experienced a slight decrease of 3 percent to 5,148 units.

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Reporting a revenue of over INR 500 billion for the first time, up 12 percent year-on-year, on the basis of automobiles are spares in FY25, Bajaj Auto Ltd has revealed that volumes rose seven percent YoY during the respective period with a strong performance in the first half and a relatively soft performance in the second half.

Observing a solid rebound (double digit volume and revenue growth) in exports, the Pune-based company earned an all-time high EBITDA of INR 101 billion, up 14 percent YoY. PAT also hit a new record at over INR 80 billion. With a revenue of around INR 55 billion from electric vehicles (20 percent of its domestic), the company, with a full PLI certified portfolio, underlined its organisation agility and adaptability with significantly improved unit economics in a journey spanning over the last three years.

With the refreshed Duke 200/250 and the new Adventure 390, the KTM portfolio of Bajaj Auto experienced strong momentum in FY25. Also the Triumph motorcycle portfolio with sales up 60 percent YoY. The KTM and Triumph motorcycles sold one lakh units domestically

The commercial vehicles portfolio of the company comprising mainly of three-wheelers saw a revenue increase of over INR 100 billion. It combined the tradition ICE vehicle business and the newly developed electric vehicle business. The launch of GoGo electric three-wheeler and a wide network of over 850 dealerships helped to increase the momentum.

Image for representative purpose only. 

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Disruptive events such as the Red Sea crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war have caused a need to have a closer look at the role of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs). A renewed approach demands that CFOs act as a change catalyst within the automotive supply chain to tackle future hurdles. To ensure stability in the Indian automotive industry filled with technological advancements, especially in alternative energy vehicles, CFOs are acting as co-pilots of transformation in the Indian automotive supply chain, opined Former Additional Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Government of India, Anand Swarup, during the ACMA CFO and Supply Chain Conference on 28 May 2025, in New Delhi.

The event brought to the forefront discussions on how the role of CFO’s has been changing over the year and saw participation from speakers from different organisations, including Maruti Suzuki India CFO Arnab Roy, among others. 

The speakers highlighted the evolution of customer demands, market dynamics and innovation due to the volatile business environment. Speaking at the event, Partner and National Auto Tax Leader at EY India, Saurabh Agarwal, said, “The CFO no longer works as an accountant, but dons multiple hats such as a risk manager and a strategic partner for resilience.”

“The leader must focus on execution and being agile in a dynamic environment to build strong relationships with other departments and ensure faster time to market. Staying agile will help an OEM to better handle changing customer demands and be able to introduce new features and variants faster,” he added.

Enumerating how flexibility helps the CFO devise strategies for optimising auto production, managing risks and adapting to supply chain disruptions, Roy said, “Real-time decisions must be made in today’s volatile world. As a result, the CFO’s role is now expanding to cover a gamut of subjects such as sustainability, location strategy and choice of appliances. Since we are within a multi-dimensional environment at present, the CFO’s role is moving from a cost controller to a continuity architect.”

Further describing the changing role of a CFO in a volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous world, it was discussed that CFOs must act as change catalyst in the automotive supply chain. While enumerating the above, Anant Swarup said, “The CFOs are not naysayers and their image of being cost-cutting agents is gradually changing. They are supply chain whisperers and co-pilots of transformation. Data-driven risk modelling helps them make accurate future decisions and turns them into participative entities.”

The current world scenario mandates a CFO’s financial expertise to assess vendor performance, identify cost-saving opportunities and process improvements, analyse costs and mitigate supply chain risks. Alluding to the same, Roy explained, “The CFO can build a resilient supply chain through cash visibility and crisis foresight. Relocation with risk-adjusted precision is necessary as it helps prepare risk-adjusted return-on-investments models for various situations. The CFO must also build redundancies and incorporate inventory industrial planning into the company’s business plan. As the world de-globalises due to geo-political scenarios, auto manufacturers are being forced to reassess their supply chains.”    

“Seventy-five percent of automotive revenue is attributable to raw materials. Supply chain management provides a competitive edge. Yet another role for the CFO would be to optimise capital for crisis situations that may include geopolitical shifts,” Roy added.  Speaker Sunil Bohra, CFO, Uno Minda Group, while describing how CFO’s act as change catalyst in automotive supply chain, said, “Every automotive plant in India produces roughly 14,000 parts.” He explained that supply chain management must account for cost control and operational efficiency, leading to effective allocation of resources, high profitability and less waste. It is the supply chain-CFO partnership that decides the future of automotive companies and manufacturers.

Though geo-political scenarios are predominantly uncertain, CFO’s have the arsenal to make calculated decisions for mitigating risks. EY India Partner, Tax, Pankaj Jain, explained, “When changes happen at the geo-political level, we must take some calls. For example, one such concept could be focusing on developing tier II and tier III vendors in India.”

The speakers also discussed on how discipline and immense hard work during the entire shift has helped China reach where it is in the auto manufacturing sector. Highlighting the Indian scenario vis-a-vis China, President- Finance and Strategy at Minda Corporation, Ajay Agrawal, said, “India must stop trying to beat China in the manufacturing industry right now since we have only been in the supply chain business for 2-3 years. The best way forward is for us to partner with China.”  

A smart supply chain-CFO partnership is possible through digitalisation. The CFO's role today has undergone a paradigm shift, making him a partner of strategic convergence across the supply chain, finance and digitalisation as the partnership is no longer just an operational topic.

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Gurgaon-headquartered BMW India Financial Services, the subsidiary of the BMW Group, which focusses on retail finance, commercial finance and insurance solutions, has appointed Andreas Modlmayer as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

He succeeds Jaejoon Lee, who successfully led the company as a leading end-to-end automotive financial solution for the BMW brand in the country.

Modlmayer has been associated with the BMW Group since 2000 and was the CEO of BMW Austria Bank in Greece. He has extensive leadership experience for BMW Group Financial Services and has worked across geographies such as New Zealand, China and Hong Kong. He started his career with BMW Bank Munich in Sales and Marketing function.

Lisa Ng, Regional Chief Executive Officer of BMW Group Financial Services for Asia Pacific, said, “Andreas Modlmayer brings with him valuable expertise and leadership acumen, with successful development of BMW Financial Services in diverse markets for over two decades. India is an important market for us, and we are confident that he will further add to the company’s growth as he takes charge of BMW India Financial Services.”

“We thank Jaejoon Lee for his immense contribution to BMW India Financial Services in the recent years. He successfully steered the company with new initiatives in product offerings and customer centricity and strengthened the foundation for future growth. We wish him all the best as he returns to BMW Korea once again,” added Ng.

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