The Hindu Business Line : 2-wheelers, Honda Siel, Skoda sales drop in Oct

New Delhi, Nov. 1 The beginning of the festive season has brought less cheer for auto manufacturers as sales during October fell for players such as Bajaj and TVS in the two-wheeler segment and Honda Siel Cars and Skoda in the passenger-vehicles category.

Maruti, GM report rise

Maruti Suzuki India Limited reported a 15 per cent increase in domestic sales in October. Maruti’s exports grew at 20.8 per cent with sales at 5157 units, faster than its growth in the domestic market. With encouraging domestic sales of SX4, its A3 segment including Esteem grew at a faster pace of 54.7 per cent with sales at 4,177 units. The A2 segment, largest in terms of volume which includes models like Alto, WagonR, Swift and Estilo, grew 20.9 per cent at 47,077 units.

General Motors sales got a boost with its 10 days discount offer of nearly Rs 60,000 for Spark. The company’s sales rose 94.70 per cent to 6,139 units. However, Honda Siel reported a marginal decline of 5.09 per cent.

Two-wheeler sales decline

“As every year, sales always get better in October compared with September. With high discounts on cars like Spark, Indica, passenger cars are showing a healthy growth. But this festival season, the two-wheeler sales continue to decline compared with the previous year,” said Mr Mahantesh Sabarad, Senior Equities Research Analyst, Prabhudas Liladhar.

On the two-wheeler front, Hero Honda reported a marginal increase in sales in October. During the month, the company also launched its 150 cc bike Hunk. Bajaj Auto Limited reported a marginal decline in the month despite a discount of Rs 4000 on Platina.

“Though both Hero Honda and Bajaj offered discounts on their entry level bikes, Hero Honda’s discounts on Splendor NXG and CD Deluxe may have helped to boost its sales marginally as they are volume products. But Platina being a low volume product for Bajaj, despite festive offers, saw a steep decline in domestic sales,” added Mr Sabarad.

TVS Motor Company recorded the sharpest fall in its total two-wheeler sales at 8.9 per cent with its motorcycles sales down by 26 per cent at 67,752 units.

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