Festival season brings in cheer; car sales rise 22% in Oct

Domestic passenger car sales rose 21.80 percent to 1,94,158 units in October from 1,59,408 units in the same month a year ago.

New Delhi: Car sales surged 21.8 per cent in October, 12th consecutive month of growth, as robust festive season purchases brought much needed cheer to the auto industry.
According to the data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic car sales in October this year stood at 1,94,158 units as compared to 1,59,408 units in the same month of 2014.

Overall passenger vehicle sales during the month grew by 21.46 per cent at 2,68,629 units as against 2,21,163 units in the year-ago month.

"Festival season has brought in cheer to the auto industry as sales have risen across categories during the last month," SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur told reporters here.

Various segments, including passenger cars, motorcycles, scooters and commercial vehicles posted good growth during the month, he added.

Commenting on the overall festive season sales, Mathur said: "There is still some data to come for the last month but taking into account the figures so far, this festival season is going to be much better than the corresponding one."

During the month, market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted a growth of 21.54 per cent in its domestic car sales at 97,951 units as against 80,589 units in the same month last year.

Passenger vehicles sales of the company grew by 24.72 per cent at 1,21,063 units with new products like Ertiga and S-Cross also contributing good numbers.

Rival Hyundai Motor India saw its car sales increase by 4.78 per cent to 39,709 units as against 37,894 units in the year-ago month.

Its passenger vehicles sales, however, jumped 23.69 per cent to 47,015 units driven by newly launched SUV Creta.

Honda Cars India's sales stood at 19,310 units as against 10,186 units in the same month last year, up 89.57 per cent, SIAM said.

Homegrown Tata Motors' domestic car sales were at 11,049 units as compared with 9,594 units in the same month previous year, up 15.16 per cent.

Utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra saw its sales rise 19.10 per cent to 22,664 units as against 19,029 units in October last year, riding on new model TUV300.

As per SIAM data, motorcycle sales rose 5.66 per cent to 10,65,856 units in October as against 10,08,761 units sold during the same month last year.

"Motorcycle sales are heavily dependent on rural markets. Though sales have increased but we would like to see if it is sustained in the next few months," Mathur said.

During October, market leader Hero MotoCorp saw its bike sales rise 6.09 per cent to 5,21,118 units as against 4,91,190 units in same period of last year. 

Bajaj Auto saw sales decline 1.09 per cent to 2,02,042 units in October as against 2,04,281 units in the year-ago month, SIAM said.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bike sales decline marginally to 1,61,585 units as against 1,62,204 units in October last year.

Scooter sales continued to do well in October as the segment posted a growth of 36.8 per cent during the month at 5,25,138 units as compared to 3,83,885 units in the same period of previous year.

HMSI maintained its leadership position in the segment, posting a growth of 35.51 per cent at 2,70,302 units as against 1,99,466 units in the corresponding month last year.

Hero MotoCorp sales rose 74.64 per cent to 1,03,913 units in October as against 59,498 units during the same period of previous year.

Chennai-based TVS Motor saw its scooter sales increase 28.56 per cent at 86,459 units in October as against 67,248 units in the same month last year.

Total sales of two-wheelers rose 13.31 per cent last month to 16,56,235 units as against 14,61,712 units in October, 2014.

Sales of commercial vehicles were up 12.73 per cent to 58,596 units during last month, SIAM said.

"We see demand for the light commercial vehicles coming back. We expect commercial vehicle segment to scale peak level by first half of next year," Mathur said.

CV segment had posted peak sales in March 2012, when over 90,000 units were retailed by various automakers.

Vehicle sales across categories registered a 13.91 per cent increase to 20,35,821 units in October from 17,87,160 units in the corresponding month, it added.

Commenting on the sales data, Abdul Majeed, Partner, Price Waterhouse, said: "The numbers across segments are encouraging. OEM's are playing their part in bringing the customers to showrooms with new launches as well as aggressive pricing including discounts."

Additionally, OEM's who are spotting the changing customers preference and launching the new products are growing more than others, he added.

"There are many favourable indicators to propel growth in the automotive sector such as low interest rates, pent up demand across the segment, low fuel prices etc. The remaining part of festival seasons will bring cheers to the automakers," Majeed said.