From Ashok Leyland to VECV, busmakers' sales entered the fast lane in 2023

The demand for buses largely remained robust in 2023, driven by the increasing need for public mobility and replacement.

Ashok Leyland Limited (ALL) recorded a 64 per cent year-on-year increase in sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) buses during the April-to-December period of 2023 to 11,216 units. Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) posted 24.7 per cent sales growth between April and December for light and medium-duty buses, and 36.9 per cent growth for heavy-duty buses. The company sold 9,945 LMD buses and 1,369 HD buses during the period under review.

Tata Motors, which does not share a break-up of its bus sales, witnessed growth in all four quarters of 2023 in their passenger carrier segment. For instance, in the October- December period, TML posted 19 per cent growth in sales of passenger carrier commercial vehicles to 7,704 units. Overall, TML passenger carrier CVs clocked 33 per cent sales growth during 2023.

On Tuesday, the company announced that it has supplied 100 electric buses to the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC). So far, Tata Motors has supplied over 1,500 electric buses across multiple cities in India, which have cumulatively clocked more than 100 million kilometres, with an uptime of over 95 per cent, it said in a press statement.

In December, TML secured an order from the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) to supply 1,350 units of the Tata LPO 1618 diesel bus chassis -- specifically designed for intercity and long-distance travel. Ashok Leyland, too, won an order from the Tamil Nadu government in December for providing 552 ultra-low entry (ULE) diesel non-AC buses. Ashok Leyland will start delivering these buses in April.

Girish Wagh, executive director, TML, said that the passenger commercial vehicles segment continued to register consistent post-pandemic recovery with sales rising around 19 per cent versus Q3FY23. “Going forward, we expect demand to improve in Q4FY24 across most segments of the CV industry due to the government’s continuing thrust on infrastructure development, the promising growth outlook of the economy, and our demand-pull initiatives,” he said while commenting on the company’s Q3FY24 sales numbers.

Antique Stock Broking analysts said in a report on Tuesday: “The MHCV bus segment continues to do well, driven by the increasing need for public mobility and replacement demand. We note the underlying demand drivers for MHCV (infrastructure spending driving freight availability and healthy fleet operators’ profitability) are in place and will support demand in FY24.”