India to witness fastest growth in connected car sales by 2030

• About nine out of 10 connected cars sold in 2030 will have embedded 5G connectivity.
• Global connected car sales are likely to exceed 500m in the 2024-2030 period.

India is set to experience the fastest growth in connected car sales between 2023 and 2030 as domestic automakers are gradually catching up with their international counterparts and enhancing their digital offerings to improve the driving experience, a research analyst said.

However, Soumen Mandal, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, that China to lead the global connected car sales market by 2030, with US, India, Japan, and Germany following suit.

These top five countries are projected to collectively account for over two-thirds of global connected car sales by 2030 and about nine out of 10 such vehicles sold in 2030 will have embedded 5G capability.

As per Counterpoint Research stats, global connected car sales are likely to exceed 500 million in the 2024-2030 period.

At present, Mandal said that Germany leads in terms of connectivity penetration but China is expected to achieve 100 per cent connectivity penetration by 2028.

Advanced mobility use cases

 “China is poised to dominate the connected car market, fuelled by the rapid adoption of EVs, C-V2X and other connected infotainment features. Domestic EV manufacturers such as BYD, NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto are striving to differentiate their offerings from traditional players and expand into international markets,” Mandal said.

Over the last decade, 4G was the major cellular connectivity embedded in cars. However, the use cases for the cars rolling out over the next decade will warrant 5G connectivity to satisfy the new advanced mobility use cases.

Senior analyst Parv Sharma said that currently, more than 96 per cent of connected cars are powered by 4G while 5G is still picking up.

“The higher price of 5G telematics devices, lack of 5G infrastructure and unavailability of killer use cases have been the major reasons for 5G’s slow growth earlier in the decade. We forecast that by 2030, almost 90 per cent of cars sold will have 5G,” Sharma said.