The long festival season did not bring much cheer to automobile manufacturers as their wholesales performance in the domestic market remained in the red zone in October. Market leader Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) was the only exception in the passenger vehicle segment, recording positive sales after seven months, and the first time in this financial year.

In the passenger vehicles segment, MSIL sold 1.39 lakh units in the domestic market during the month, up 2 per cent over October 2018.

Hyundai Motor India reported a decline of 4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 50,010 units in the domestic market last month against 52,001 units in October last year.

The biggest casualties during the festival season include Honda Cars India, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tata Motors. While Honda Cars reported a decline of 29 per cent YoY in its sales to 10,010 units, M&M reported a 23 per cent drop YoY at 18,460 units. Tata Motors’s sales fell 28 per cent YoY at 13,169 units.

However, the companies said they did better in retail sales during the month, especially during the ‘Navratras’ and ‘Dhanteras’.

“Our super performer brands — Venue, Nios, Elite i20 and Creta — added joy to the festivities of our customers with strong performance in a single month. We are confident that Hyundai Motor India would continue to march towards the year end on a positive note, meeting and exceeding our customers aspirations,” Vikas Jain, National Sales Head, Hyundai Motor India, said.

Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, also said that results have been encouraging with retail sales 36 per cent higher than wholesale. “In October, retail sales were the highest in this fiscal recording a 70 per cent increase month-on-month.”

Dull two-wheelers sales

In the two-wheeler segment, too, sales remained dull with market leaders Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) reporting a decline in sales YoY. While Hero’s sales dropped 14 per cent YoY to 5,99,248 units (against 7,34,668 units), HMSI’s sales eased to 4,87,782 units (against 4,90,135 units) in October.

‘Pulsar’ maker Bajaj Auto reported lower sales of 2,42,516 units in October, a decline of 14 per cent YoY against 2,81,582 units in October last year.

TVS Motor Company recorded a 25 per cent slump in sales YoY at 2,52,684 units.

In the commercial vehicle segment too, most companies, including Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors and Volvo Eicher, recorded a decline in sales by more than 30 per cent YoY.

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