Auto majors Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai have reported a decline in sales performance in October as the companies reduced dispatches to dealers to cut inventory build.
The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its total domestic passenger vehicle wholesales stood at 1,59,591 units last month as against 1,68,047 units in the same month a year ago, a decline of 5 percent. .
However, the company recorded its highest monthly sales including exports in October at 2,06,434 units, a year-on-year growth of 4 per cent over the same month last year.
Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales), MSI, said the company saw its highest ever retail sales in October.
He said, “Retail sales of all our models have been very good. As a result we have improved our network stock to around 40,000 plus units. We calibrated our production supply, and now our network stock is about a month.”
MSI said sales of its mini-segment cars, which include Alto and S-Presso, declined to 10,687 units in October 2023 from 14,568 units.
Similarly, sales of compact cars including Baleno, Celerio, Dezire, Ignis, Swift, Tour S and WagonR declined to 65,948 units from 80,662 units in the year-ago month.
However, utility vehicle sales including Brezza, Grand Vitara, Ertiga and XL6 increased to 70,644 units last month from 59,147 units earlier.
Hyundai Motor India said its domestic sales rose marginally to 55,568 units last month from 55,128 units in October 2023.
Chief Operating Officer, Hyundai Motor India said, “We witnessed strong demand for our SUV portfolio during the festive period, leading to our highest ever monthly SUV sales of 37,902 units, with the Hyundai Creta accounting for the highest monthly sales of 17,497 units. “Includes domestic sales as well.” Tarun Garg said.
He said SUVs remain the cornerstone of the company’s lineup, representing 68 percent of total monthly sales in October 2024, with equal penetration in urban and rural markets.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said it shipped 54,504 utility vehicles in the domestic market, up 25 per cent from 43,708 units in the year-ago period.
“We are excited with the highest-ever SUV sales of 54,504 vehicles in October, a growth of 25 per cent, and total sales of 96,648 vehicles, a growth of 20 per cent,” said Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, M&M. ,
He said the month had started well with Thar ROXX garnering 1.7 lakh bookings in the first 60 minutes and the positive momentum across the SUV portfolio continued during the festive season.
Tata Motors said its domestic PV sales declined to 48,131 units compared to 48,337 units in the year-ago month.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor said its domestic sales stood at 28,138 units last month, compared to 20,542 units in October 2023.
JSW MG Motor India reported 31 per cent year-on-year growth in wholesale sales to 7,045 units in October 2024.
In the two-wheeler sector, Royal Enfield said its wholesales in the domestic market rose 26 per cent year-on-year to 1,01,886 units in October.
Overall, the company recorded sales of 1,10,574 units, up 31 percent compared to the same month last year.
“The month of October has been truly remarkable for Royal Enfield, we have broken records with over 1,00,000 sales in a single month! This is our biggest and milestone festive season sale and surpasses all our previous sales The performance has surpassed records,” said B Govindarajan, CEO, Royal Enfield.
TVS Motor Company said its domestic two-wheeler sales grew by 13 percent, from 3,44,957 units in October 2023 to 3,90,489 units in October 2024.
