Wholesale sales of passenger vehicles and two-wheelers posted growth for a second straight month in September driven by expectations of higher demand on account of an anticipated improvement in consumer sentiment during Diwali and a growing shift towards personal mobility as a result of COVID-19 .
Market leader Maruti Suzuki’s dispatches to dealers surged 34% year-on-year to more than 1.47 lakh vehicles.
“With total sales of 3,93,130 units in Q2, the company registered a growth of 16.2% over the same period previous year, on a lower base,” the automaker said in a statement. “The company closed H1 with total sales of 4,69,729 units, a decline of 36.6%. Sales performance in the first half has to be seen in conjunction with COVID-19 related disruptions,” Maruti Suzuki added.
Hyundai India said domestic sales rose 23.6% to 50,313 units. But exports fell 43.5% to 9,600 units.
“In the changing business environment, the green shoots of recovery are clearly visible with sales improving on a month-on-month as well as year-on-year basis,” said Hyundai Motor India director (Sales, Marketing & Service) Tarun Garg.
Mahindra & Mahindra sold 14,857 passenger vehicles (PVs), a growth of 4%. Domestic tractor sales jumped 18% to 42,361 units.
Tata Motors’ domestic PV sales more than doubled to 21,199 units. Shailesh Chandra, president, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, said, “PV industry witnessed recovery in Q2, supported by festive sales in some regions and continued benefit from pent-up demand across the country. In September, wholesales were higher than retail”. Domestic commercial vehicle sales, however, fell 4% to 23,245 units.
Mitul Shah, vice president (Research) at Reliance Securities said monthly volume performance by most automobile companies was encouraging. “Improving sentiment, favourable monsoon, higher agri output, all these factors coupled with increased enquiry levels indicate strong auto sales during upcoming two months of festive season,” he added.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 8,116 cars, lower than the 10,203 units it sold locally in September 2019.
Hero raises prices
Hero MotoCorp’s sales rose 16.9% to more than 7.15 lakh units. The country’s largest two-wheeler maker also raised the ex-showroom prices of its motorcycles and scooters by up to 2% to partly offset rising input costs.
Rival Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India said wholesale sales rose 10% to surpass 5 lakh units.
Chennai-based TVS Motor said domestic two-wheeler sales at 2.41 lakh units in September 2020, was lower than the about 2.43 lakh units sold in the year-earlier period.
