Automakers in India typically report wholesale shipments from factories and not retail sales to customers.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki and its closest rivals Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported the best monthly sales in October. While Maruti Suzuki reported a 10.5% increase to 176,318 units last month, Tata Motors and Mahindra sold 61,134 units and 71,624 units respectively.
Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki, said that while the industry data is yet to be collected and officially released, automakers are likely to have recorded the highest ever monthly retail sales in October.
Working overtimeWith strong retail sales locally, companies accelerated shipments to build inventories at dealers. “In the 40-day festive period between Navratri and Diwali, we received 500,000 bookings and sold 410,000 units,” Banerjee said. “In October alone, our retail sales increased 20% to 242,096 units. We only have approximately 19 days’ worth of inventory (104,000 units) in the channels. Our production teams are working overtime to quickly fulfill pending orders.”
Mahindra reported record SUV sales in the month.
“In October, we achieved SUV sales of 71,624 units, a growth of 31%, which is the highest SUV sales ever,” said Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO of M&M’s automotive division.
Tata Motors, the market leader in local electric vehicles (EV), posted 27% growth and recorded record monthly shipments for the second month in a row. SUVs led Tata Motors total sales, selling over 47,000 units; Sales of electric vehicles also increased by 73% to 9,286 units.
The company said it saw “unprecedented festive momentum” with robust retail demand driving monthly registrations to a record.
Data from Vahan portal showed that Tata Motors continued to hold the second spot in the local passenger vehicle (PV) market, ahead of M&M and Hyundai Motor India.
At Hyundai, wholesale shipments to dealers fell 3% to 53,792 units in the month under review.
VAT reductions
“October was a month marked by the festivals of Dussehra, Dhanteras and Diwali, further complemented by the positive impact of the GST 2.0 reforms,” said Tarun Garg, full-time director and chief operating officer of HMIL. According to him, bookings for the new facelifted Venue compact SUV should help the carmaker increase volumes.
Meanwhile, Toyota Kirloskar Motor saw sales rise 43% to a record 40,257 units. “The favorable economic environment during the festive season, enhanced by the government’s forward-looking GST reforms, has also boosted market confidence. At Toyota Kirloskar, this has resulted in a significant increase in customer inquiries and orders, which collectively boosted our overall performance,” said Varinder Wadhwa, vice president of used car sales.
Sales of two-wheelers also remained healthy. At TVS Motor Co, domestic two-wheeler sales registered 8% growth at 421,631 units last month, compared to 390,489 units in October 2024. Suzuki Motorcycle India’s domestic sales closed at 103,454 units, compared to 104,940 units in the same month last year. However, retail sales reached a record high of 140,679 units in October.
In the commercial vehicle segment, market leader Tata Motors saw sales increase by 7% to 35,108 units. Rival Ashok Leyland also reported a 16% increase in domestic volumes to 16,314 units in the month under review.
In the agricultural machinery sector, Mahindra Tractors sold 72,071 units last month, translating to a 12% increase over the 64,326 units reported in the same period last year.
“For the festive period of September and October combined, the growth is 27.4% over the same period last year,” said Veejay Nakra, president of agricultural equipment business at Mahindra & Mahindra.
A good monsoon, combined with the benefit of the GST rate cut announced in September, supported the strong performance.
Going forward, factors like timely start of Rabi sowing and good progress in Kharif crop augur well for tractor sales.
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