Mahindra & Mahindra’s domestic auto sales fall 6% in September

Home-grown automaker, Mahindra & Mahindra today reported a 6% fall in its total domestic sales in September at 39,693 units.

Rising competition continued to weigh on the company’s sales in passenger vehicle segment as sales declined 7% to 19,564 units from 21,141 units sold in the same period a year ago. Commercial vehicle sales also declined 5% to 14,430 units, largely weighed down by the 9% drop in sales of LCV’s with capacity of less than 3.5 tonne.

On the upside M&HCV sales rose almost three folds to 511 units. The company had launched its first 49-tonne heavy commercial vehicle end-August and had also announced plans to infuse a fresh investment of Rs 700 crore in its M&HCV division for development of new product platforms.

The company also reported a 26% surge in exports in the month to 3,155 units. However, the total sales including exports came in 5% lower at 42,848 units in September.

Commenting on the performance, Pravin Shah, President and chief executive (automotive) at M&M said, “While the auto industry witnessed a slow and fragmented recovery, the recent interest rate reduction by the RBI is bound to infuse optimism. If the majority of the rate cut is passed on to customers by lending institutions, it will bring back the momentum in auto sales especially during the upcoming festival season. At Mahindra we are very happy the performance of our exports and MHCV segments. Our TUV300, which was launched in September, has received a very good response and we expect this to boost our overall performance going forward.”

Mahindra launched the TUV300, its first new model in more than four years, on September 10 and is planning to launch another new compact SUV in the next two months. By enhancing its product portfolio with fresh launches, the company plans to regain lost market share in the utility vehicle segment.