With 45% growth, momentum expected to continue even in 2025: Toyota

TKM's sales boom comes at a time when other car companies are seeing a slowdown amid low demand and high inventory with dealers

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), which saw a 45 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in volume sales in the first eight months of the year, is expecting to continue its growth momentum even into the next calendar year, its Country Head and Executive Vice President Vikram Gulati said on Monday.

TKM's sales boom is coming at a time when other car companies are seeing a slowdown amid low demand and high inventory with dealers.

Domestic car wholesales of the Indian auto industry stood at 1.322 million units in the April-July period of 2024-25, recording an increase of a meagre 1.8 per cent Y-o-Y.

"We have an excellent product pipeline. We play primarily in the segments where cars are priced above Rs 10 lakh. There is some degree of premiumisation that is happening in the market as the customers are now willing to pay a little bit more," Gulati stated in an interview to the Business Standard on the sidelines of the annual session of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA).

"We continue to look (expect) robust growth not just in the balance of the year but also going ahead given the fact the love we have seen for our products, and the good order book we have," he added.

TKM's volume sales in the January-August period stood at 212,785 units, a staggering jump from 147,192 units sold in the corresponding period a year ago.

"We have been doing well month-on-month. Last few months have been really good in terms of sales numbers, which have been amongst the highest ever," Gulati mentioned.

He stated that the dealer stock of TKM is as usual. "We primarily rely on the pull system. We manufacture vehicles based on what orders we have rather than the other way around. Therefore, our inventory levels are very close to the normal level," he added.

Gulati mentioned that an emissions-based taxation system should be the ultimate goal in India as the country is moving towards the aim of becoming carbon-neutral by 2070.

Currently, the taxation system on cars takes into account the length of the vehicle, the size of the engine, the length of ground clearance, etc. These parameters are a bit "outdated" and a taxation system based on carbon dioxide emissions emitted by car models is what should be aimed for, he mentioned.