Festive Cheer For Automakers As Sales Rise In September

Sales rose for most Indian automakers in September as they continue to recover from disruption triggered by the Goods and Services Tax.

While passenger vehicle volumes increased on the back of festival sales, demand for trucks rose due to stricter implementation of loading restrictions.

Passenger Vehicles

India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.'s passenger vehicle sales grew 9.6-percent over September last year, driven by higher demand for its compact cars, including Ignis, Baleno and Celerio. Sales of Maruti Suzuki's compact segment, which also includes Swift, Baleno and Dzire, rose 44.7 percent.

The country's second-largest carmaker Hyundai Motor India Ltd. registered a growth of 17.4 percent in its sales. Driven by demand for utility vehicles, Mahindra & Mahindra's passenger vehicle sales rose 23 percent.

Tata Motors sold 18 percent more passenger vehicles than September last year, on the back of demand for the Tiago hatchback, the Tigor compact sedan and the Hexa SUV.

Commercial Vehicles

Strict implementation of load restrictions and expected rollout of the e-way bill under GST helped boost sales of trucks.

India's largest truckmaker Tata Motors' commercial vehicle sales increased 29 percent in September. The medium and heavy commercial vehicle volumes grew 25 percent, largely due to a good response for the newly launched 37-tonne and 49-tonne tractor trailers, it said.

Chennai-based Ashok Leyland Ltd.'s volumes grew 28 percent, rising for the fourth straight month. Sales of light commercial vehicles rose 15 percent, while medium and heavy commercial vehicles grew at 32 percent.

For Mahindra & Mahindra, medium and heavy commercial vehicles was the best-performing segment as sales more than doubled. Overall CV sales grew at 19 percent. Bajaj Auto's sales of commercial vehicle sales too rose 32 percent to 59,074 units.

Nomura expects the medium and heavy commercial vehicle industry's growth to touch 15 percent in the year to March 2019 and 10 percent in the following 12 months. It expects the overloading restrictions, put in place by the government, will translate into a demand of three to four lakh trucks, the Japanese brokerage said

Tractors

Demand for tractors rose, driven by festive demand. M&M's farm equipment arm sold more than 45,563 units in September, an increase of 49 percent over the same month last year. Escorts Ltd.'s sales volume grew 32.4 percent to 10,144 units.

Two-Wheelers

India's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp Ltd. set a new benchmark in the two-wheeler industry, riding on the robust demand for its range of vehicles. The two-wheeler maker crossed the ‘seven lakh sales mark' in a month, by dispatching 720,739 units of its motorcycles and scooters in September.

Eicher Motors reported a 22-percent jump after selling 70,431 units, driven by a robust demand for its Royal Enfield motorcycles with a capacity up to 350 cc.

Bajaj Auto Ltd.'s volumes grew 11 percent over last year in the motorcycle segment, buoyed by exports. Domestic sales rose 7 percent.

TVS Motor Company sold 22.1 percent more units, led by a higher demand for scooters—a segment that grew at 43.3 percent.

Exports

Anand Mahindra-led M&M shipped 3,207 passenger vehicles, 16 percent higher compared to the corresponding month last year. Tata Motors Ltd.'s exports declined 27 percent due to a continued drop in volumes in Sri Lanka and Nepal. Maruti Suzuki's exports contracted 1.3 percent year on year.

Exports for Bajaj Auto outperformed, rising 20 percent to 1.22 lakh bikes, continuing a recovery from August after nine months of decline.