Diwali wasn’t exactly blockbuster for auto players with most manufacturers reporting moderate growth in sales during November and that too on a low base of last year. If sales of around 14 players in the passenger vehicle segment is grossed up, then the growth during the month was around 9% compared to the same month last year. The country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India saw its domestic sales (factory despatches to dealers) declining 2% on a year-on-year basis. The five-day period of Diwali sales for Maruti this year was around 40,000 units compared to around 39,000 last year during the same festival (last year Diwali fell in October).
The commentary from the players were mixed. While Maruti maintained its stance that though the pent up demand was slowly petering out, sales should be fine till December. Other like Mahindra and Mahindra expressed optimism that since economic activities are showing signs of picking up the demand momentum could remain intact in the coming months. Auto players had despatched huge volumes during October – one of the highest in recent times – to stock dealerships for the festival period. So, in some ways despatches during November were expected to be lesser. Further, due to Diwali holidays in factories, production was also lesser during the month.
After recorded its highest domestic sales since its inception in October, Hyundai Motor India’s domestic sales increased by 9.4% y-o-y to 48,800 units in November. However, on a m-o-m basis, Hyundai’s auto sales suffered a decline of 14%. Hyundai has been doing well on the back of launches of new variants its compact SUV Creta and premium hatchback i20.
Tarun Garg, director (sales, marketing & service), HMIL, said, “As the smart Indian customer continues to make smart mobility choices, the recently-introduced all-new i20 has helped carry forward the festive momentum even in the post Diwali period for HMIL.”
M&M clocked total domestic sales of 22,066 units, which was an improvement of 4% y-o-y, while the sales on a m-o-m basis remained sluggish and declined a steep 48%. However, the company did well on the passenger vehicles sales, which increased a good 24% y-o-y to 18,212 units. Veejay Nakra, chief executive officer (automotive division), M&M said, “We are happy to achieve strong double digit growth in SUVs during the month of November, aided by a robust festive demand for all our products. Given strong rural growth and signs of improvement in economic activities, we are hopeful to see this positive momentum continue post the festive season”.
Vehicle sales for Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) remained steady in November, as it recorded an increase of 2.4% on a y-o-y basis to 8,508 units. Naveen Soni, senior vice-president (sales & service), TKM, said the company has been witnessing a gradual yet steady recovery owing to factors such as pent up and festive season demand as well as consolidation of the market at the lower end. “In terms of festive season demand and sales, TKM has fared well registering a 10-13% increase in customer orders and 12% increase in retail sales when compared to the festive period in 2019. However, owing to the illegal strike called upon by the members of TKM union, TKM was forced to declare a lockout at the factory which has impacted our production and wholesale numbers. Having said that, we have been able to fulfill the market demand with the stock available with us, both at the factory as well as at the dealer’s end,” he said.
In a sign that economic activity is surely picking up, commercial vehicle manufacturer, Ashok Leyland registered an increase of 4% y-o-y in number of commercial vehicles sold at 9,727 units. On a m-o-m basis too, the increase was to the tune of 9.4%.
Two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto sold lesser number of vehicles in November as the vehicle sales declined 4% on a y-o-y basis to 1,98,933 units. The sluggishness was on account of steep fall in commercial vehicle sales of the company, while the two-wheeler sales continued to grow at 7% y-o-y to 1,88,196 units. Hero MotoCorp sold 5,75,957 motorcycles and scooters in the domestic market, which was an increase of nearly 14% on a y-o-y basis.