loader2
Login Open ICICI 3-in-1 Account
  • Text Size
  • Text to Speech
  • Color Contrast
  • Pause Animations

Open ICICI
3-in-1 Account

Manage your Savings, Demat and Trading Account conveniently at one place

+91

BLOG

Auto Volumes April 2026 - Steady start to a year amidst ongoing geo-political issue

ICICIdirect Research 15 May 2026 DISCLAIMER

FY26 ended on a high note for the domestic automotive space with double digit growth and industry making a new high in terms of total vehicles dispatches for FY26.

It was actually a tale of two halves with H1FY26 being muted and H2FY26 coming in robust post GST rate cut announced by the government and it being perfectly coinciding with the onset of festive season i.e. 22nd September 2025, just before Dusshera-Diwali.

Total domestic volumes for the industry rose 10% YoY to ~2.8 crore vehicles in FY26 vs. a last best of ~2.7 crore units clocked in FY19.

Auto Volumes April 2026 - Steady start to a year amidst ongoing geo-political issue

  • India’s automotive OEMs posted steady volume prints for April 2026, led by positive momentum following GST rate cuts. Passenger Vehicle & Tractor segments outperformed peers.
  • CV space reported steady volume prints for the month of April’26 with continued recovery visible across M&HCV (trucks) & LCV segments while Bus segment showed green shoots of recovery.
  • Maruti Suzuki set the bar high, outperforming in the PV space reporting volumes of ~2.4 lakh units, highest ever, registering a 24% volume growth while Escorts Kubota led the growth charge in the Tractor segment (with 24% volume growth).
  • Eicher Motors (RE) after overcoming capacity constraint performed well in the 2W domain with 31% volume growth, maintaining 1 lakh+ units run-rate, while Bajaj Auto outperformed with a staggering a 38% YoY growth at ~4.4 lakh units supported by ~78% growth in exports.
  • Tata Motors CV outperformed with 28% volume growth in the CV segment as Ashok Leyland underperform in second consecutive month growing ~9% YoY at ~14.6k units.
  • Retail sales momentum was also unabated with Vahan registrations (retails) for April 2026 totalling ~26 lakh units, up ~13% on YoY basis.
  • Going forward, OEM’s have still not flagged concern on the demand side amidst ongoing geo-political issues, however did opine on supply side challenges on the logistics front as well as key commodity price led pressure on gross margins. In response to it, some OEM’s have announced price hike to mitigate the partial impact of RM increase.

We are positive on the Auto space with top bets as Maruti Suzuki (BUY; Target: ₹16,150), M&M (BUY; Target: ₹ 4,500)

Download ICICI Direct app

Invest, Track, and Manage your Portfolio Anytime, Anywhere

Download ICICI Direct app

Invest, Track, and Manage your Portfolio Anytime, Anywhere