Honda Cars India despatched 10,836 vehicles from its plants in Greater Noida and Tapukara to dealers last month, registering an 8.25 percent growth over 10,010 units sold in October 2019.

While the growth is marginal, the carmaker says it is as per plans. According to Rajesh Goel, SVP and director, Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India, "We have seen positive sales momentum in line with market sentiment and our October results have been as per our plan."

"The festive buying picked up from Navratra in mid-October and we are focusing on maximising deliveries during this period. Thanks to our strong and refreshed product line up introduced right before the festive season and ongoing multiple consumer offers, we expect this demand to continue through to Diwali which will further accentuate growth for us and the industry at large, Goel added.

The company had launched the fifth-generation Honda City – its best-selling model in India – earlier this year in July. While the midsized sedan has its loyal customer base who value its comfort, powertrain and design attributes, the market, however, is witnessing a distinctive shift towards SUVs. The new City is perhaps facing rough waters from the competition including Hyundai's Creta and Kia's Seltos crossovers which play in the same price bracket.

As a result, Honda was doling attractive schemes, including offering a Rs 30,000 exchange bonus on the latest City in October. The Civic executive sedan was also running massive discounts of up to Rs 250,000 while the Amaze offered Rs 47,000 in benefits. The Jazz and WR-V, on the other hand, too offered Rs 40,000 worth of benefits each last month. With Diwali and Dhanteras lined up for November, expect the schemes to continue through to the end of this month as well.