Here’s How Luxury Carmakers Fared In India In The Last Financial Year

• Luxury cars’ sales dropped from 40,637 units in FY’20 to 19,781 in FY’21.

• Lamborghini is the only luxury carmaker to have increased its sales from 13 to 26 units.

• Audi has probably taken the hardest hit, selling 3,829 CBU units less than FY 2020.

Perhaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant shrinking economy, the luxury car segment in India contracted significantly in FY 2020-2021 (April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2021). Most carmakers saw their sales nosedive from FY 2019-2020, with one witnessing a staggering drop of almost 90 percent. 

However, amid the surrounding rot, an odd exception saw one carmaker exactly double its sales. Here is a detailed comparison:

*Others includes OEMs such as Aston Martin, Lexus, and Maserati

Mercedes-Benz tops the list, selling 7,087 units in FY 2020-2021. However, this is significantly less than the 11,394 units sold in the preceding financial year. Audi has seen a massive drop in sales as well, with just 404 units sold in the last financial year compared to the 4,233 units in the one before that. The numbers for Audi's sales are based on completely built-up (CBU) units. Audi hasn't shared the figures for its locally assembled models.

Lamborghini is the only luxury carmaker to have performed better during this period, doubling its sales from 13 units (in FY 2019-20) to 26 (in FY 2020-21). This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering the Rs 3.1 crore Lambo SUV has already sold over 100 units since its launch in 2018.

The contribution of the luxury car segment to the overall passenger vehicle sales has also dropped sizeably. For reference, in FY 2019-20, 40,637 units were sold, resulting in a 1.46% market share. Whereas in FY 2020-21, the number came down to 19,781, translating to a market share of only 0.83%.

Passenger car sales are still hurting because of the second wave of the pandemic. With the way things are as of now, we are all pining to see that proverbial silver lining in the cloud.