Indian Passenger Vehicle Sales Performance In August 2017

The Indian passenger vehicle industry’s sales, for the month of August 2017, have risen ahead of the festive season. It seems customers are utilising the benefits showered on them by the vehicle makers post goods and services tax (GST) announcement.

When it came to domestic sales, most of the vehicle makers have posted growth, barring Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Ford India, and Volkswagen India. It is to be mentioned here that Renault India, Nissan Motor India, and Skoda Auto India have not released their sales numbers, as of now, for the said month.

Let’s take a look at how the passenger vehicle manufacturers performed, sales wise, in the domestic market for the month ended 31 August, 2017.

1. Maruti Suzuki India

Maruti Suzuki’s total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 151,270 units, with year-on-year growth of 26.2 per cent. In the segment, passenger cars grew by 28.4 per cent, utility vehicles by 27.6 per cent, and vans by 8.6 per cent.

In Maruti Suzuki’s passenger cars category, mini segment posted de-growth of 0.2 per cent, and compact and mid-size segments grew by 62.4 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively.

According to Shrikant Akolkar (Research Analyst- Automobiles, Angel Broking), “Maruti Suzuki’s growth in the volumes of mini and midsize vehicle segments was muted while compact segment volumes saw a jump of 62.4 per cent, fastest in several months. The utility vehicle volumes grew by 27.6 per cent, this was slower growth compared to the growth in the previous month. The numbers have beaten our estimates and indicate that the industry is witnessing faster recover from the GST blues.”

“This is also fastest growth that company has reported after January 2017. We also note that immediately after demonetisation, Maruti’s volumes recovered rapidly in January 2017 and the same sort of recovery can be observed in the August 2017 volumes. This is a clear indication of faster restocking by the dealers following GST and a strong demand for automobiles in the country. We maintain accumulate rating on the stock.”

2. Hyundai Motor India 

Country’s second largest car manufacturer registered the domestic sales of 47,103 units for the month of August 2017 registering a growth of 9 per cent over August 2016. This substantial growth is recorded with the successful launch of the Next Gen Verna.

Commenting on the August sales, Rakesh Srivastava, Director - Sales and Marketing, HMIL said, “Hyundai volume with 47,103 units grew by 9 per cent on the strong acceptance of the Next Gen Verna with more than 7,000 bookings within 10 days of launch along with strong demand for Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta in a market fuelled with speculations on the GST cess increase and challenges posed by floods in many states, we foresee that with the strong strength and spread of monsoon and a strong product portfolio strong buying in the festive period.”

3. Mahindra & Mahindra

The passenger vehicles segment (which includes UVs, cars and vans) sold 19,325 vehicles in August 2017, as against 18,246 vehicles during August 2016, registering a growth of 6 per cent.

In the segment, utility vehicles registered 7 per cent growth with 18,255 units sold in August 2017 as against 17,119 units during August 2016. However, Mahindra cars and vans’ sales dropped down to 5 per cent and stood at 1070 units.

Commenting on the performance, Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M Ltd said, “Our brands continue to gain traction despite several external challenges. As we get into festive season, we are confident of a good growth over the next couple of months, on the back of our diversified product portfolio.”

4. Honda Cars India

The manufacturer has registered monthly domestic sales of 17,365 units in August 2017 against 13,941 units in corresponding month last year, recording a growth of 25 per cent.

During the said month, Honda City posted maximum sales of 5,538 units followed by WR-V with 5,200 units. Honda Jazz sold 2,747 units, and sales of Amaze, BR-V and Brio stood at 1,928 units, 1,247 units and 640 units, respectively. Honda CR-V witnessed sales of 55 units, and Accord Hybrid of 10 units, for the month f August 2017. 

Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd said said “HCIL continues to record strong sales in August led by City and WR-V. The festive purchases have already begun in some parts of the country and we expect the festival season to further boost our sales numbers in the next two months. HCIL has announced ‘The Great Honda Fest’ from today and we want our customers to take this opportunity to get maximum benefits on the purchase of their Honda car.”

5. Tata Motors

In August 2017, Tata Motors passenger vehicles, in the domestic market, recorded sales at 14,340 units, grew by 10 per cent, over August 2016, bolstered by the strong demand for the Tata Tiago and the Tata Tigor. The car segment remained flat at 11,462 units, and the UV segment grew by 84 per cent at 2,878 units, driven by the Tata Hexa.

Commenting on the sales performance, Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “Tata Motors sales continues to grow on a positive course at the back of strong performance of the new generation cars like Tiago, Tigor and Hexa. With Ganesh Chaturthi, we have entered the festive season and we expect the growth momentum to continue.”

6. Toyota Kirloskar Motor

Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 12,017 units in the domestic market when compared with 12,801 units in August 2016, thereby recording year-on-year decline of 6 per cent. New Fortuner and Innova Crysta continue to stand strong as segment leaders after a year of its launch.

In an official statement, the company mentioned that it has witnessed 40-50 per cent jump in customer orders in August post the announcement on potential cess hike. Enquiries continue to be significantly high, however, due to production constraints the company has not been able to cater to the enhanced demand.

Commenting on the monthly sales, N Raja, Director and Sr. Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “Our sales numbers this month are not truly reflective of the existing customer orders. Post the announcement on potential cess hike, there was a considerable rise in customer enquiries and orders. Yet we had production limitations which held us back from catching up with the high demand.”

“Due to holidays in August, we further had the constraint of lesser number of production days. With the demand on the rise, the current waiting period for Innova has gone up to around 6-8 weeks and Fortuner is around 10-12 weeks respectively.”

Added Raja, “We look forward to the festive season with cautious optimism because though the festivities may bring cheer to the market however the looming threat of cess hike may lead to increased prices of our products which definitely would have an impact on the demand.”

“The customer demand for our strong hybrid product Camry Hybrid has fallen significantly owing to the price hike as per applicable tax under GST framework. We hope the government would reinstate the preferential (lower) tax rate in favor of clean and green technologies such as strong hybrids similar to pre GST era. This will greatly help improve the economic viability and hence aid the consumer in choosing this advance technology over petrol/diesel vehicles,” concluded Raja.

7. Ford India

Ford India’s domestic wholesales in August stood at 7,777 vehicles as against 8,548 units during same month previous year, declining by 9.01 per cent.

“Constraints in the supply chain severely impacted exports as well as domestic production for Ford cars in August,” said Anurag Mehrotra, president and managing director at Ford India.

“Moving forward, we look forward to an exciting festive season. We also look forward to a stable and conducive policy framework from the government as frequent changes in tax rates threaten to have an adverse impact on the consumer sentiment.”

8. Volkswagen India

Volkswagen has announced its monthly sales performance for August 2017, selling 4,159 units, constituting a 10.18 per cent year to date growth as compared to vehicles sold in the same period of the previous year.

Speaking at the occasion, Steffen Knapp, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt Ltd said, “We have witnessed an upward growth trend in year to date numbers, this growth is attributed to the trust customers place in our products that promise safety and a great driving experience. With the onset of the festive season in regions across India, we have enhanced the car buying experience for our customers and have been a part of their celebration through several customer engagement initiatives across the regions.”

The recently launched Volkswagen Tiguan welcomed a new set of customers into the Volkswagen family. The car has received a very encouraging response since the launch and has a pipeline of orders going up to year-end 2017, added the company in a statement.