Cheering up the passenger car segment with growing sales, October 2012 was a better month for most vehicle manufacturers. Though high interest rates and fuel prices remain the dampeners affecting market sentiment, the upcoming festive season in the second half of October 2012 helped add to the footfalls at showrooms.
Among the passenger vehicle OEMs, Maruti Suzuki India sold a total of 96,002 cars in October 2012, an increase of 86.6 percent (October 2011: 51,458 units). The company sold 569,220 units between April-October 2012 against 524,547 units during the same period last year. The M800, Alto, A-star and WagonR comprising the entry level hatchback models fetched 42,233 units of total sales during the month, up 68.9 percent (October 2011: 25,009). The Alto remained the top-seller with 26,600 units while the Swift sold 15,433 units. Meanwhile, the Dzire recorded nearly threefold growth at 14,389 units (October 2011: 5,001).
Thanks to the launch of the Ertiga earlier this year, Maruti has also posted a strong jump in the utility vehicle segment where it has sold 7,400 units (including Ertiga, Gypsy and Grand Vitara) for the month against the sales of only 270 units last October. With average sales of around 6,500 units per month, the Ertiga is also boosting Maruti’s cumulative sales with this category selling 47,766 units between April-October 2012 compared to just 4,116 units in April-October 2011.
Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) reported sales of 35,778 units during October 2012 (October 2011: 33,001), up 8.4 percent. Rakesh Srivastava, vice-president, marketing & sales, HMIL, said, “The festivals brought in positive growth in domestic sales with resurgence in petrol variants. All models showed a growth especially with strong demand for the Eon and Elantra.” The Eon sold 7,872 units in October, among its best performances in the current fiscal. The i10 and i20 sold 8,988 and 9,058 units respectively during the month.
Meanwhile, Tata Motors recorded negative growth of 16 percent with sales of 21,119 passenger vehicles in October 2012 (October 2011: 25,124). The Nano sold 4,004 units, up four percent (October 2011: 3,868). April-October 2012 cumulative Nano sales were 43,627 units, higher by 31 percent over 33,245 units sold in the same period last year. The Indica range at 6,692 units (October 2011: 10,812) and Indigo range at 5,748 units (October 2011: 6,268) posted negative growth of 38 percent and eight percent respectively.
Tata claims the recently-launched Manza Club Class, now available across the country, is getting an encouraging response while the Safari Storme is now available in the NCR region, Chandigarh and Lucknow.
Mahindra & Mahindra recorded all-time high monthly sales of 26,932 units in the passenger vehicles category in October 2012, posting growth of 44 percent YoY. The Bolero sold 11,071 units, its highest ever. The company has also increased monthly production of the XUV500 to 5,000 units starting October 2012 to reduce the waiting period for the SUV.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 12,281 units last month (October 2011: 10,762), up 14 percent. Innova sales grew 73 percent with 5,889 units ((October 2011: 3,411). However, sales for the Etios series were down by 21.5 percent – 4,596 units (October 2011: 5,859.The Fortuner sold 1,378 units, up 81 percent (October 2011: 763).
General Motors India reported a decline of 32.87 percent in its October 2012 sales which stood at 6,754 units (October 2011: 10,062). The Beat sold 2,904 units. The company has recently launched the Sail U-VA which it hopes will give it the numbers to boost its tally.
Ford India’s domestic sales declined marginally to 7,577 units (October 2011: 8,091). Though it recorded negative growth of 6.3 percent, Michael Boneham, president and MD, said: “Despite some ongoing market challenges, we are extremely proud to have had our second best month in October.” Ford India has launched a refreshed Figo which it hopes will enable it to boost its monthly numbers in the festive season.
With sales of 8,085 units in October 2012, Honda Cars India posted a growth of 46.3 percent (October 2011: 5,526.The City sold 3,976 units while the Brio went home to 3,700 new owners. Last month, the carmaker also launched an automatic Brio. The Jazz sold 306 units while the Civic, which is being phased out, sold 60 units.
Meanwhile, Nissan Motor India recorded sales of 1,862 units in October 2012 with the Micra and Sunny being large contributors. The Sunny sold 1,007 units. The sales numbers are expected to increase in November as the orders of the recently launched Evalia MPV are underway.
Consolidating its position and registering highest ever monthly sales, Renault India clocked sales of 6,790 units during October 2012, thanks to the Duster which accounted for major volumes at 5,406 units. Renault also sold 737 Scala saloons and 483 units of the Pulse hatchback during the month. The company has established a network of 75 dealerships and aims at setting up 100 outlets by the end of 2012.
LCVs shine in the Commercial Vehicle segment
Tata Motors' commercial vehicles division recorded 21 percent growth in October 2012 selling 47,026 units (October 2011: 38,713). LCV sales were 34,905 units (October 2011: 21,890), which marks a growth of 59 percent. Medium and HCV sales stood at 12,121 units (October 2011: 16,823), down 28 percent. Cumulative sales of CVs till October 2012 in the domestic market were 298,532 units, up six percent YoY while cumulative LCV sales were 208,715 units, up 24 percent YoY. M&HCV sales totaled 89,817 units, lower by 21 percent over last year.
Ashok Leyland recorded a 28 percent sales growth in October 2012. It sold 7,997 units last month (October 2011: 6,252). Cumulative sales of 65,321 units from April-October 2012 saw 32 percent growth compared to 49,398 units in same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the Dost continues to march on with sales crossing the 3,000-unit mark for the second month in a row. October saw the small commercial vehicle rake in sales of 3,033 units, with cumulative sales till end-October reaching 18,946 units. Ashok Leyland’s total sales for October 2012 were up by 28 percent largely due to the Dost’s robust sales performance while year-to-date sales till October saw a growth of 32 percent.
October 2012 saw Eicher Motors lose ground in the 5-tonne and above trucks segment with sales dipping by 7.4 percent to 3,830 units (October 2011: 4,135). Year-to-date sales, however, saw Eicher record 3.2 percent growth from 37,546 units for April-October 2011 to 38,745 units for the same period this year. In the heavy duty segment too, there was a small increase in sales compared to last year — 705 as against 686 units last year.
Year-to-date sales saw a bigger rise of 11.2 percent with sales till October this year reaching 6,517 units against 5,858 units for last year. The company’s bus sales are still on the rise with year to date sales going up about 30.3 percent from 5,869 units in April-October 2011 to 7,645 units for the corresponding period this year.
Two-wheelers on an upswing too
October 2012 did bring in a very rare combined growth across all the major two-wheeler players. With Diwali around the corner, market sentiments are keeping the sales counters ringing.
Reporting its highest ever October sales at 529,215 units, Hero MotoCorp reclaimed the magical monthly sales mark of 500,00-plus units at the onset of the festival season. Though owing to the high base, the company registered a growth of 3.3 percent over the sales of 512,238 units in October 2011. It also achieved the highest ever scooter sales for any month by sales of over 50,000 units for the Maestro and Pleasure.
Anil Dua, senior vice-president, marketing & sales, said: “Our October story is about touching new milestones: highest-ever October sales, over half-a-lakh of scooter sales and retail of over 350,000 units of two-wheelers in just 15 days of the festival period (October 16-31). With Diwali around the corner, we are prepared for even better retail sales in November as well.” The boost in scooter sales has also led to the company raising its scooter production to over 60,000 units per month.
Bajaj Auto reported its highest ever domestic motorcycle sales at 262,000 units during October 2012 comprising 155,000 Discovers alone. Posting a growth of 3 percent YoY, the company recorded overall sales (including exports) of 361,186 units (October 2011: 351,083).
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) recorded domestic sales of 236,225 units in October 2012, up 38 percent YoY. With 41 percent YoY growth, overall sales (including exports and CKD units) were 250,606 units. These comprised 121,832 motorcycles (YoY growth 70 percent) and 128,774 scooters (YoY growth 21 percent). Y S Guleria, vice-president, sales & marketing, HMSI, said: “Customer demand for Honda products has been highly unprecedented. Despite the recent capacity expansion, Honda reached its combined peak production capacity in the month and market demand for Honda two-wheelers still far outweighs the supply.”
TVS Motor Company marked a growth of six percent in its domestic sales which stood at 1,70,273 units (October 2011: 1,59,887).
India Yamaha Motor posted a three percent growth in its domestic sales of 39,368 units in October 2012 (October 2011: 38,229 units). The company is registering healthy bookings for its first scooter, the Ray. Yamaha has sold over 16,000 Rays since its September 14 launch with 4,000 bookings still pending. The company expects to cross 25,000 sales during the festive season and targets selling a total of 40,000 units by the end of this year.
On account of a much smaller base, Suzuki Motorcycle India registered a whopping 214.4 percent growth with 36,206 units sold in October 2012 against 11,513 units in October 2011, thanks to the boost provided by its latest 112cc commuter bike, Hayate.
Meanwhile, with the Duro DZ and Rodeo RZ performing better month-on-month,Mahindra 2 Wheelers sold a total of 11,139 units in October 2012.
Overall, October 2012 stood as an encouraging month for the majority of players. The reduction of 25 basis points in the CRR in the recently announced credit policy is analytically a positive step. Now all that remains is for consumers to loosen their wallets during Diwali this month.