Indian car industry posts average growth in Oct 2017: Hyundai second only to Maruti in terms of cumulative sales despite clamp down on exports

October is usually a great month for manufacturers, the start of the festive and of course festive discounts make it even more appealing to the customer. This year the auto-industry has proudly carried forward the tradition, turning the GSTs many overtures to their advantage with most companies posting positive year-on-year growth trends! Of Course, Maruti leads the way with over 1.3 lakh sales cumulatively. More on that here.

The rest of the industry meanwhile were not to be left behind, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) posted domestic sales of 49,588 units for the month of October 2017. A large chunk of which came from the newly launched Hyundai Verna which is a real game-changer in terms of executive sedans. Commenting on the October sales Mr Rakesh Srivastava, Director - Sales and Marketing, HMIL said, “Hyundai did its highest retail of over 50,000 units in a festival month, with a wholesale of 49,588 units on the strength of strong demand for GRAND i10, ELITE i20 and CRETA. In addition, the NextGen VERNA received strong customer response with over 20,000 cumulative bookings and 150,00 enquiries, this was further amplified by increased level of customer satisfaction with Hyundai Ranking the ‘Number One position in After Sales Customer Satisfaction’ with the all-time high score of 923 points in J.D.Power 2017 India Customer Service Index (Mass market) Study.”

Meanwhile, Tata Motors who have been on the steady growth since the launch of the Nexon and the Hexa also posted positive growth trends. In October 2017, Tata Motors passenger vehicles, recorded sales of 16,475 units, the growth of 1%, over October 2016. Even the Tiago and Tigor have been on the steady growth. In terms of cumulative sales passenger vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal (April-Oct 2017) were at 97,892 units, a growth of 10%, compared to 88,976 units, in the same period last fiscal. Commenting on the sales performance, Mr Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “We continue to keep the sales momentum going, led by a strong product pipeline of Tiago, Tigor, and Hexa. We have successfully completed the launch of Nexon across the country and are delighted with the response and it is currently witnessing a waiting period of around 8 weeks. While we have grown, we could have done better had it not been for the long holiday season. We will maintain cautious optimism in the market and hope to see this momentum continue.”

Ford, however, was down from last year’s sales, combined domestic wholesales and exports in October reached 15,033 vehicles from 22,043 vehicles in the same month last year, down a few pegs from last year's sales in October.Domestic wholesales in October stood at 4218 vehicles, as against 7,508 units a year ago, while exports were at 10,815 vehicles compared to 14,535 units last year.Management at Ford, however, chose to remain positive, “The ramp up for new model introduction has impacted our wholesale for October. We are excited to have the All-New Ford EcoSport be on the side of the Indian customers very soon,” said Anurag Mehrotra, President & Managing Director, Ford India. “Rightly celebrated as THE car which started the compact SUV segment, the All-New Ford EcoSport builds-on the dynamic appeal of its predecessor and is all set to win the customers with its style, technology and fun of driving.”

Meanwhile, Mahindra and Mahindra’s Passenger Vehicles segment (which includes UVs, Cars and Vans) sold 23,413 vehicles in October 2017, as against 24,737 vehicles during October 2016.Commenting on the monthly performance, Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M Ltd. said, “The auto industry has had a mixed month. The build-up

to Dhanteras & Diwali was good but the demand tapered off subsequently. Last year all festivals were in the month of October and the industry volumes had a high base. This year, September and October combined, we have grown by 7.9% in Auto Division. Going forward we enter into a year-end period of lower sales. Our refreshes & new variants, that have been launched, will carve out a niche and we expect to sustain the growth momentum for the remaining period of the current financial year.”Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 12,403 units in the domestic market. The company exported 1597 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 14,000 units registering 6% growth as compared to same period last year. In the month of October 2016, Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 11,651 units in the domestic market. In addition, the company exported 974 units of the Etios series.