Auto sales a mixed bag in October

In the passenger vehicle segment, Maruti Suzuki last month grew its sales volumes by 9.5 per cent selling 146,446 units up from 133,793 units sold in October 2016. Of the total, domestic sales were at 136,000 units, up by 9.9 per cent over the corresponding month a year ago, while exports stood at 10,446 units, an increase of 4.2 per cent over the corresponding month in 2016. On the other hand, Ford India saw their sales volume going down last month. 

It sold 15,033 units down from 22,043 units sold in the same month last year. Ford India said booking for its new EcoSport model opens on November 2 and the vehicle will be launched on November 9. In a statement, it said its domestic wholesales in October stood at 4,218 vehicles, as against 7,508 units a year ago, while exports were at 10,815 vehicles, compared to 14,535 units in 2016. 

Meanwhile, commercial vehicles major Ashok Leyland Ltd sold 12,914 units last month, up from 12,534 units sold in October last year. VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd - a Volvo Group and Eicher Motors joint venture - sold 5,228 units last month as compared to 4,560 units in October 2016, recording a growth of 14.6 per cent.

TVS Motor Company registered a sales growth of 3% increasing from 308,690 units in October 2016 to 317,411 units in the month of October 2017. Total two-wheeler registered growth of 1.5% with sales increasing from 303,885 units in October 2016 to 308,364 units in October 2017. Domestic two-wheelers registered sales of 270,372 units in October 2017 as against 272,229 units in October 2016. 

Scooter sales of the Company grew by 15.7% from 92,417 units in October 2016 to 106,910 units in October 2017. Motorcycles sales grew by 3.2% with sales increasing from 121,550 units in October 2016 to 125,409 units in October 2017. The Company’s total exports grew by 29.3% from 35,134 units registered in the month of October 2016 to 45,437 units in October 2017.

Two-wheeler exports grew by 20.0% increasing from 31,656 units in October 2016 to 37,992 units in October 2017. Three-wheeler of the Company grew by 88.3% increasing from 4,805 units in October 2016 to 9,047 units registered in October 2017. 

“The auto industry has had a mixed month. The build up to Dhanteras and Deepavali was good but the demand tapered off subsequently. In 2016 all festivals were in the month of October and the industry volumes had a high base. This year, September and October combined, we have grown by 7.9 per cent in auto division,” Rajan Wadhera, President-Automotive Sector, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd was quoted in a statement. 

“Going forward, we enter a year-end period of lower sales. Our refreshes and new variants, that have been launched, will carve out a niche and we expect to sustain the growth momentum for the remaining period of the current financial year,” he added as his firm reported sales of 51,149 units, down from 52,008 units sold the same month in 2016.