Robust Sales Light Up the Auto Market

Festivals add to excitement

Auto market drove back on a high growth trajectory with buoyant sales in Sep'09, lighting up the mood and fuelling optimism within the industry and retail trade for the remaining half of the current financial year.

Auto sales, except in the case of commercial vehicles, had been creeping up since the advent of current fiscal. However, the month of September gave a big push to the recovery process. The growth momentum was all encompassing. Even the M&HCV sales that had been witnessing free fall over a year seem to be stabilising for the second month running with goods carriers clocking a 2.53% growth during the month.

Vehicle sales in domestic market during the month of September grew by 9.6% to 1,092,262 units. Passenger vehicle sales grew by healthy 20.32%, which is a continuation of the double-digit growth posted in the months of July and August. The total number of cars and UVs sold in domestic market during the month stood at 1-67,524 units. Two-wheeler domestic sales for the month of September rose by 7.67% to 838,150 units. The two-wheeler growth was dragged down to single-digit for the first time in the current fiscal by Hero Honda whose growth slowed down to 3.7% on high base of the last year.

Three-wheeler domestic sales in September surged by 13.51% to 41,137 units, while the sales of commercial vehicles, including light commercial vehicles, in domestic market grew by 6.46% to 45,451 units on the back of pick-up in industrial output.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), India's car market leader, sold a total of 83,306 vehicles in Sep'09 compared to 71,000 vehicles in Sep'08, growing 17.3 per cent. The Sep'09 sales tally includes 11,712 units of exports, which grew by a whopping 85.4% from 6,318 units in the corresponding month last year. Maruti Suzuki's domestic sales volume in A2 segment comprising Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Swift, at 52,508 units during the month shot up by 15.1 % y-o-y.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), the country's second largest car manufacturer and the largest passenger car exporter, saw cumulative sales peak at a record 53,804 units in Sep'09, crossing 50,000-mark in a month for the first time since 1998 when the Santro rolled out in India.

After months of slowdown and fluctuating sales, HMIL notched up a healthy growth of 25% in domestic market, buoyed by the strong festival season sales. The overseas sales grew by a modest 9% as the export market slowed down with the scrappage incentive coming to an end in most European markets.

HMIL's total sales for Sep'09 stood at 53,804 units as against 46,218 units in Sep'08. The domestic sales accounted for 27,803 units vis-à-vis 22,311 units a year ago, while the overseas sales grew from 23,907 units previous September to 26,001 units in Sep'09.

The segment-wise cumulative sales of HMIL in the month of Sep'09 were as follows: A2 Segment (Santro, i10, Getz & i20) - 49,482 units; A3 Segment (Accent & Verna) - 4,269 units; A5 Segment (Sonata Transform) - 52 units; and SUV Segment (Tucson) - 1 unit.

 
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M), a part of the US $6.3 billion Mahindra Group, clocked a record breaking domestic auto sales of 26,921 units for the month of September 2009, as against 22,729 units in Sep'08, which translates into an increase of 18.4%.

The total UV sales of M&M in Sep'09 stood at 15,296 units as against 10,641 units in Sep'08, recording a robust growth of 43.7%.

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) sold 5,794 units in the month of Sep'09, posting a healthy growth of 86.7% over 3,104 units in Sep'08.

Modelwise break-up of Honda car sales during the month was: City - 4,281 units; Jazz - 504 units; Civic - 695 units; CR-V - 1 unit; and Accord - 313 units.

General Motors India registered a record y-o-y growth of 49% in its sales during Sep'09, clocking 7,654 units as against 5,154 units in Sep'08. This was the highest-ever monthly sales figure achieved by GM India since its inception. The Sep'09 sales comprised of 4,706 units of Chevrolet Spark, 1,329 units of Chevrolet Tavera, 753 units of Aveo U-VA, 424 Units of Aveo, 319 units of Optra and 123 units of the Captiva.

The Chevrolet Spark posted the highest ever monthly sales, witnessing a whopping 128% growth y-o-y.

Ford India also witnessed a robust 50% growth in sales during Sep'09, logging 3,405 units compared to 2,273 units during Sep'08.

Tata Motors' total sales (including exports) of commercial and passenger vehicles in Sep'09 added up to 52,531 units, a 6% increase from 49,647 vehicles sold in Se'08. The company's total domestic sales including commercial and passenger vehicles for Sep'09 stood at 49,650 units, a 10% growth over 45,234 units sold a year ago.

Commercial vehicle sales of Tata Motors during September 2009 in the domestic market aggregated 31,474 units, up 10% over 28,648 units sold in September last year. LCVs accounted for domestic sales of 18,454 units, witnessing a growth of 16% y-o-y. M&HCV sales stood at 13,020 units, rising by 2% over the corresponding sales figure for the previous year. This was the third consecutive month of growth of M&HCVs for Tata Motors, which shows that recovery in CV segment is taking root.

Passenger Vehicle Business Unit of Tata Motors clocked total domestic sales of 18,304 units in Sep'09, an 8.8% increase compared to 16,819 units in Sep'08. Sales of Tata cars, at 15,802 units, grew by 19%. The Indica range sales were 9,858 units, up 15% y-o-y, while the sales tally of Tata Nano during the month was 2,524 units. The Indigo range recorded sales of 3,420 units, lower by 27% compared to September last year. The Sumo/Safari range posted sales of 2,374 units, down 28.5% y-o-y.

Tata Motors' exports totalling 2,881 units during the month fell sharply by 34.7% from the export figure of 4,413 units recorded a year ago.

Ashok Leyland with domestic sales tally of 4,813 units stayed in the negative terrain and witnessed a decline of 11.8% compared to the sales figure of 5,454 units a year ago.

After a spectacular showing in the first five months of the current financial year, Hero Honda Motors Ltd (HHML), the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, slowed down and posted a growth of 4.16%. The company logged sales of 4,01,290 units in the month of Sep'09 as against 3,85,262 units in Sep'08.

The company reached another milestone, as it recorded sales of more than a million units for the second consecutive quarter. Hero Honda closed the second quarter (Jul-Sep) of this Financial Year (FY'10), with sales of 11,83,235 units of two-wheelers, a growth of 21.7 per cent over the corresponding period (Jul-Sep, FY'09). This comes close on the heels of its record 11,18,987 unit sales in the first quarter (Apr-Jun) this FY - the first time Hero Honda crossed a million unit sales in a quarter.

2009 has proved to be a remarkable year for Hero Honda Motors Ltd. The company has been consistently reporting dispatch sales of more than 3 lakh units each month this calendar year, and for two consecutive months of August and September, sales crossed the landmark figure of more than 4 lakh two-wheelers.

Bajaj Auto bounced back with a vengeance to clock a growth of 12.4% in domestic two-wheeler sales and 19.9% rise in two-wheeler exports during the month of Sep'09. The company's total sale of two wheelers comprising domestic sales and exports aggregated 249,795 units, up 14.3% over previous sales figure of 218,494 units last year. Exports (2- & 3-wheelers combined) for the month at 80,681 units were the highest ever in the history of Bajaj.

TVS Motor Company posted a 4% growth in Sep'09, logging total two wheeler sales of 142,553 units compared to 137,246 units in Sep'08. The company's domestic sales at 132,281 units in Sep'09 clocked 11% growth over 119,017 units sold in domestic market a year ago. Exports of TVS continued to stay in negative terrain with exports of 10,272 two wheelers in Sep'09 as against 16,201 units in Sep'08.

With industrial production recording an impressive 10.4% growth in August 2009, auto market is headed for a better-than-expected growth during FY 2009-10 on the back of easy finance availability and lower interest rates.