November Auto Sales Review: Momentum Holds Post Festive Season; Tractors And CV Lead Charge

India’s automobile sector delivered a strong performance in November, with both Jefferies and Citi highlighting broad-based wholesale growth across passenger vehicles, two-wheelers, commercial vehicles and tractors. However, tractors and commercial vehicles were the biggest outperformers in November.

The surge was driven by sustained post-festive demand, order backlogs and new model launches.

In PVs, Jefferies estimates wholesale growth of around 20% year-on-year, supported by robust dispatches from Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tata Motors.

Citi echoed similar strength, noting that most OEMs posted very strong annual growth.

Maruti Suzuki remained a standout: domestic volumes excluding Toyota climbed 21% year-on-year, aided by price cuts and recovering small car demand. Exports surged 61%, taking overall volumes up 26%.

M&M also posted healthy 22% growth in utility vehicles, helped by rising traction in its BEV portfolio. Tata Motors saw strong 22% growth in domestic PVs, led by the Harrier EV.

Hyundai, however, saw only modest 4% growth, and its electric vehicle market share slipped to just 3% in November.

Passenger vehicle registrations told a similar story, rising 23% year-on-year, underlining improving retail demand since August. EV penetration in PVs also recovered modestly to 3.7%, with Tata Motors maintaining a dominant 41% share.

The two-wheeler segment continued to show a split trend: wholesalers reported strong growth, but retail remained soft. Industry wholesales rose roughly 21% year-on-year, with TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors and Honda all posting 20–30% expansion.

Bajaj Auto was the lone laggard, with domestic volumes dipping 1%. Exports provided some cushion for Bajaj, rising 8% year-on-year. TVS Motor delivered one of the strongest prints in the sector, with domestic volumes up 20% and exports soaring 52%, resulting in 27% overall growth.

Eicher Motors’ Royal Enfield volumes grew 22% year-on-year, though they moderated from the festive-season highs of the preceding months. Despite healthy wholesale numbers, 2W registrations fell 3% year-on-year, suggesting continued pressure in entry-level demand. EV penetration remained flat at 4.6%, with TVS leading electric two-wheelers at 26 percent share.

Tractors and commercial vehicles were the biggest outperformers in November. Tractor wholesales grew 29% year-on-year, supported by improved farm sentiment, favourable crop trends, higher MSPs and GST cuts.

Registrations surged an even stronger 55%. M&M’s tractor volumes rose 33%, indicating potential upside to its financial year 2026 outlook. Commercial vehicles also saw robust 25–32% growth across OEMs. Tata Motors’ CV volumes rose 25%, while Ashok Leyland delivered 29% growth, driven by a 30% rise in MHCV trucks and strong traction across buses and LCVs.

Brokerage preferences differed slightly. Jefferies maintained M&M, TVS Motor and Eicher Motors as its preferred buys, citing strong wholesale performances and improving medium-term drivers.

Citi’s order of preference was Maruti, followed by M&M and Hyundai, driven by Maruti’s demand recovery, pricing actions and strength in exports.