The auto industry recorded its highest ever sales in a calendar year at nearly 38 million in 2022, beating the previous high of 33.3 million in 2018, an increase of 14 per cent.

Retail sales at 4.11 lakh surpassed wholesales in December, which stood at 2.76 lakh leading to a substantial fall in inventories.

The stock in the industry, which started at 2.47 lakh at the beginning of December, went down almost 136,000 units to 1,10,000. “At the beginning of January 2023, we’ll see network stock low across all models,” said Shashank Srivastava, executive director of MSIL, while addressing the media.

“Of course, the production will resume, and supplies will resume for most manufacturers starting tomorrow.”

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd reported a 9 per cent decline in total wholesales at 1.39 lakh units in December compared with the year-ago month. The company had clocked total sales of 1.53 lakh units in the same month in 2021, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) said in a statement.

Sales of compact cars consisting of models such as Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, Swift, Tour S and WagonR were lower at 57,502 units against 69,345 units in December 2021.

On the other hand, utility vehicles such as the Brezza, Ertiga, S-Cross, XL6 and Grand Vitara clocked higher sales last month at 33,008 units against 26,982 units in the year-ago period.

“The shortage of electronic components had some impact on the production of vehicles, mainly in domestic models. The company took all possible measures to minimise the impact,” Maruti Suzuki said.

Tata Motors reported a 10 per cent increase in domestic sales at 72,997 units in December. The company had sold 66,307 units in the same month previous year, TataMotors said in a statement. Passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 40,043 units last month against 35,299 units in December 2021, a growth of 13.4 per cent.

On the commercial vehicles front, total sales were marginally down at 33,949 units last month compared with 34,151 units in December 2021. However, domestic sales were up 6.3 per cent at 32,954 units against 31,008 units in December 2021.

“For Tata Motors passenger vehicles, we outpaced industry growth and crossed the distinctive milestone of 5lakh units comfortably to post wholesale of 5,26,798 units,” Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd managing director Shailesh Chandra said.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd on Sunday reported an 18.2 percent increase in total sales at 57,852 units in December 2022. The company had sold 48,933 units in the same month in 2021.