Passenger vehicles sales in October buoyant on festive demand

Most carmakers in India posted a rise in passenger vehicle sales in October as buyers rushed to make purchases on account of the festive season.

Leading the growth momentum was India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki followed by Hyundai Motor India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Honda Cars India and Tata Motors; all top five carmakers registered a double digit growth in sales. The month saw sales of homegrown carmaker Mahindra rise after several months of decline.

Moreover, low fuel prices, interest rate cut on auto loans along with launch of new models also provided an impetus to passenger vehicle sales.

“The advent of the festive season has provided the much needed fillip for the auto industry especially on the back of the new launches of most manufacturers which has received an encouraging response. With the drop in interest rates and the fuel prices remaining benign, we expect the industry to maintain a good growth momentum going forward,” according to Pravin Shah, President & Chief Executive (Automotive), M&M Ltd.

The festive fervour, on the other hand, evaded Toyota Motors and Volkswagen India as they witnessed a decline in sales.

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki posted a 24.7 percent year-on-year rise in domestic sales to 121,063 units in October. The highest growth of nearly 57 percent was seen in the utility vehicle segment, which includes the recently launched S-Cross, Gypsy, Ertiga and Grand Vitara. Maruti offered benefits of up to Rs 1 lakh of certain variants of the S-Cross to lure buyers.

Sales of the company’s compact car models such as the Swift, Dzire, Ritz, Celerio and the Baleno witnessed a 38 percent year-on-year growth in sales to 51,048 units in October. If received well, the Baleno, which was launched on October 26, 2015, is sure to provide a boost to the carmaker’s growth momentum in the country.

Hyundai recorded highest-ever domestic sales of 47,015 units in October, up nearly 24 percent from the corresponding period last year, on the back of upbeat response to its Creta SUV, the i20 premium hatchback as well as the Grand i10.

"Hyundai sales of 47,015 units are all-time highest with an all-time high sales of Grand i10 with 14,079 units and continued strong performance of Creta and i20 which added 18,244 units…We expect the growth momentum to continue in the coming months with improving customer sentiments," said Rakesh Srivastava, Sr. Vice President - Sales and Marketing, Hyundai Motor India Ltd.

A real turnaround in sales, however, was witnessed by Mahindra after facing continued  decline for several months. The carmaker’s passenger vehicle segment sold 24,060 units in October 2015 as against 20,255 units during the same month last year, registering a growth of 19 percent. “We are quite hopeful of this positive growth momentum continuing for the rest of the year,” Shah said adding that upbeat response for the TUV300 was key in providing a fillip to the sales growth.

Japanese carmaker Honda registered a significant growth of 52 percent with monthly domestic sales of 20,166 units in October 2015 against 13,242 units in the corresponding month last year. The carmaker’s bestseller for the month was its City sedan, which sold 7,022 units, with the Amaze following closely with 6,971 units. The Jazz premium hatchback sold 4,496 units.

Tata Motors saw a revival in sales of its passenger vehicle after a decline in September as it registered a 11 percent sales growth to 12,798 units, as against 11,511 units.

Sales of Toyota declined marginally by just over 1 percent to 12,403 units last month, as against the 12,556 units from last year. Interestingly, the carmaker said that sales of the new Camry sedan in the April to October period has already exceeded total Camry sales in 2014.

German carmaker Volkswagen saw a decline in sales for a second consecutive month, after seven straight months of growth starting from February till August this year. Volumes fell 30 percent in October to 3,255 units from 4,663 units a year ago. In September, VW was caught manipulating vehicle emission tests in the United States, following which it admitted that as many as 11 million vehicles across the globe could be affected.

NISHANT PAREKH