Commercial vehicles see record sales in March 2016

With improved traction on the sales front, thanks to the boost in infrastructure spend and benign fuel prices, the overall commercial vehicle sector has returned positive numbers in March 2016.

During fiscal 2015-16, medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) maintained their growth curve of the last 18 months with strong sales, largely due to fleet operators buying bulks of heavy trucks to update their ageing fleets. Moreover, after struggling for more than two years, the LCV segment has seen the green shoots of recovery and entered positive territory with single-digit growth. Importantly, March 2016 saw all key manufacturers register double-digit growth in their LCV sales.   

According to industry sources, with improving sales momentum, the LCV sector is set to notch continuous growth in the new fiscal year and will benefit from slowly increasing demand in rural India. Moreover, after experiencing two consecutive drought years, the Met has predicted good rainfall this year.

As per company-wise sales data, Tata Motors’ sold 38,247 units in March 2016, up 20% (March 2015: 32,005). M&HCV sales grew 24% at 18,538 units (March 2015: 14,878). Holding onto February’s uptick, its LCVs notched strong double- digit growth of 15%, selling 19,709 units (March 2015: 17,127).

Ashok Leyland’s overall sales at 16,702 units, were a handsome 31% up year on year (March 2015: 12,754). While its M&HCV sales rose 32% to 13,240 units (March 2015: 10,027), it sold 3,462 LCVs, up 27%.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s M&HCV numbers were up 86% on sales of 879 units (March 2015: 472 units). While the below-3.5 T GVW segment posted 20% growth with sales of 15,729 units (March 2015: 13,126 units), the above-3.5T GVW segment gained a strong 61% with sales of 830 units (March 2015: 516 units).

VE Commercial Vehicles recorded strong 45.5% growth selling 5,944 units in the domestic market (March 2015: 4,084 units).