Anticipating strong demand during Deepavali, most car-makers registered strong growth in dispatches to dealers in October. Market leader Maruti Suzuki on Sunday said it sold over 1.63 lakh passenger vehicles in the domestic market in October, 17.6% up from 1.39 lakh vehicles in the month in 2019.
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The company said sales of its mini segment cars (Alto, S-Presso) remained almost flat at 28,462 units, while those of compact cars (WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire) and utility vehicles (Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza and XL6) were up 26.6% to 95,067 units and 10% to 25,396 units, respectively.
Two-wheeler sales
The country’s largest two-wheeler maker, Hero MotoCorp, posted its “highest-ever sales in any single month” at over 8.06 lakh units in October 2020, a growth of 35% over the year-ago month.
“A positive turnaround in customer sentiments, particularly for motorcycles across markets, continued government policy support and a credible resumption of supply chain, logistics and business operations have enabled the company to achieve record numbers during the auspicious festive period.” it said.
Hyundai Motor India also recorded the highest-ever domestic sales since its inception of 56,605 units, a growth of 13% over October 2019. The previous highest monthly domestic sales number for the company was 52,001 units in October 2018. Tarun Garg, director (sales, marketing & service), HMIL, said.
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Positive tone
“The October month sales performance has set a positive tone for the overall business environment and we are confident that Hyundai will continue to strongly contribute towards sustainable growth of the economy, community and all its stakeholders.”
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Honda Cars India saw a year-on-year growth of 8.3% in sales last month at 10,836 units. The company’s senior vice-president and director, marketing and sales, Rajesh Goel, said, “We have seen positive sales momentum in line with market sentiment ... The festive buying picked up from Navratra in mid-October and we are focusing on maximising deliveries during this period. Thanks to our strong and refreshed product line-up introduced right before the festive season and ongoing multiple consumer offers, we expect this demand to continue through Deepavali … .”
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) said it sold 12,373 vehicles last month, a growth of 4%. Naveen Soni, senior vice-president, sales and service, TKM, said, “The month of October has been our best month so far since March 2020. The festive season has proved to be bullish as we witness demand surging, month on month. This has been true of our retails too as order flow has been smooth, from the very beginning.”
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Robust demand
Home-grown Mahindra & Mahindra saw a 1% growth in domestic passenger vehicle sales in October at 18,622 units. Veejay Nakra, CEO, automotive division, M&M Ltd., said, “We are happy to achieve a growth of 4% in utility Vehicles, despite certain supply constraints ... the festive season has started on a positive note with deliveries and bookings being higher than last year. Going forward, this augurs well for a robust festive demand which in turn will help the industry in the short term.”
Motorcycle-maker Royal Enfield, however, reported a decline of 7% in sales at 62,858 units in October 2020.
