The Hindu Business Line : Diwali provides the bang to vehicle sales in October

While domestic sales grew 21 per cent to 71,551 units, exports were up 158 per cent to 13,864 cars. Incidentally, overall sales grew 32 per cent over the same month last year.

The festival demand boosted sales of all other carmakers too, such as Hyundai, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, GM, Skoda and Honda in October.

Mr Mayank Pareek, Executive Officer, Sales, Maruti Suzuki, said: “When talking about domestic growth, we must remember that it is on a low base. October-November sales last year were particularly bad.” As for exports, he said the scrappage incentive in Europe continues to push exports. “Apart from that, we created new markets such as South Africa. Now, the A-Star is being exported to 44 countries,” he added.

Maruti’s compact segment, which includes the A-Star, the Ritz, the Swift, the Estilo, the Alto and the Wagon-R, clocked 18 per cent growth at 51,437 units while the mid-size, comprising the SX4 and the Swift DZire, grew 63 per cent.

Hyundai Motor India crossed the 50,000-unit mark for the second consecutive month with sales of 28,301 cars in the domestic market and 23,435 overseas, a growth of 11 per cent. However, exports fell 12 per cent.

“The festival period of the last two months generated strong sales and gave the Indian automobile industry some respite from the sluggish performance of the last few months. It now looks as if this could translate into positive double-digit growth for the balance of the year,” said Mr Arvind Saxena, Senior Vice-President.

Tata Motors reported its highest sales this fiscal at 20,011 units, an 18 per cent growth over the same period last year. Its ally, Fiat also saw sales increase six times to 2,221 units. As many as 3,018 units of the Nano were delivered in October. The launch of the new generation Indigo Manza sedan also arrested the declining trend in this segment that had persisted for the last seven months. The Indigo range has now seen six per cent growth at 4,899 units.

Utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra also did well in October. Combined sales of the Scorpio, the Xylo, the Bolero and its pickups were 18,410 units, up from 13,935 in the same month last year (the Xylo had not been launched then).

General Motors India sold 7,413 units in October against 6,465 units in the same month last year, a 15 per cent growth. According to the company, there are pending orders which could not be met due to supply constraints of some parts.

Honda Siel Cars India posted record growth with up four times to 6,909 units in October. “Growing consumer optimism coupled with an array of new launches from our company during the festival season catapulted our sales for the month,” said Mr Jnaneshwar Sen, Vice-President, Marketing.

Ford India, said its October sales were the highest in the last 25 months at 3,458 cars.

“Discounts, finance schemes, low interest and new launches have worked really well in this festive season,” said Mr Abdul Majeed, Leader, Automotive Practice, Pricewaterhouse Coopers India.

two-wheeler segment

The two-wheeler segment did brisk business too with Hero Honda reporting sales of 354,156 units (352,449 last year), followed by Bajaj Auto with 249,974 units (165,477) and TVS Motor with 131,029 (117,101).

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