The nation’s top two-passenger vehicle makers, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India, are expected to have recorded strong retail sales for January.

Registrations of vehicles made by both automakers were higher amid sustained demand, especially from rural markets, industry experts said.

Maruti and Hyundai, which together account for more than 70% of the passenger vehicle market, have been helped also by a low inventory build-up in the industry, as both were able to tackle supply issues better than most others, they said.

Tata Motors is also expected to have seen on par vehicle deliveries to customers in January, but utility vehicle specialist Mahindra & Mahindra has reportedly raked in low retail numbers.

Automakers mostly report only wholesale numbers, or dispatches from factories to dealerships, and not retail sales. The dealers’ association collates vehicle registration data from the government’s Vaahan portal, which is being used as a proxy to retail sales, but the numbers do not capture data from all states and union territories.

As per industry estimates, passenger vehicle retail sales totalled 2.5 lakh units and wholesale 3.03 lakh units in January. Market leader Maruti Suzuki dispatched 1.39 lakh units in the past month, and industry experts put its retail sales higher at 1.62 lakh units. For Korean car major Hyundai, wholesale was 52,000 vehicles, while the retail numbers are estimated at 55,000 units, according to Vaahan data.

Maruti Suzuki executive director Shashank Srivastava said demand kept chasing supply in January. “In my assessment the retails were impacted negatively due to low inventory at the dealerships. Besides some OEMs had supply chain-related issues. The retails and the wholesales, therefore, could have been higher with better availability,” he said.

Experts said retail numbers reflect the mood of the consumers while wholesale numbers amount to companies maximising billing, building inventory and getting a better market share. Till recently, wholesale numbers matched retail or were higher to retail. However, with constraints in supplies and production schedules, some auto companies have been dispatching fewer vehicles to the dealerships.

Automakers had recorded double-digit wholesale volume growth in January, as they replenished shrinking network inventory amid a stable retail momentum.

Kaushik Madhavan, vice president, mobility practice at Frost & Sullivan, said automakers saw a correction in January for all the inventory build-up that happened for the festive season in the previous quarter. Additionally, there were no big incentives to boost sales.

Tata Motors saw a marginal decline in its retail offtake, said industry experts.

Kia Motors dispatched 19,000 units, but its retail sales were lower at 16,500. The local units of both Honda Motor and Toyota Motor saw lower retail sales.

“Retail is relatively lower in January due to our stock correction last month and we build stocks for three weeks which includes transit time,” said Naveen Soni, senior vice president at Toyota Kirloskar.

Mahindra, which dispatched 20,634 units in the past month, is estimated to have retailed only around 12,580 units.

“The difference between billing and retail is largely due to the delayed supplies of the ECUs (electronic control unit) from one of the suppliers resulting in billing skewed towards the last week of the month and so the dealerships could not retail much,” said Veejay Nakra, CEO, automotive at Mahindra. He said there is a strong order pipeline across models.

Dealers said there would be some vehicles that were invoiced in December but registered in January (to get a new year registration). “It always happens every year in January, showing an uptick in retail numbers,” said Nikunj Sanghi, an automotive dealer.