Festive season, fresh model launches put September auto sales higher

Post June, car sales graph had increased and continued to improve ahead of festive season.

New Delhi: Post Navratri, auto companies observed an impressive shift in retail sales. The festive season has encouraged the sales in September leading to double-digit growth in the Indian market. Even the fresh launches of various car models during this period have helped the figure to surge. In expectation of huge Diwali sales, car makers have begun the shipment of products to the dealers.

Before that, auto companies had to go through a poor sale figure owing to the de-stocking at the dealerships in the light of GST implementation. Post June, car sales graph had increased and continued to improve ahead of the festive season.

Below is the sales report of major auto companies:

Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki sales grew by 10 percent to 1,50,521 from 1,37,321 units last year. The strong growth owes to the start of companies's Gujarat plant. As a result to newly launch Dzire,  the compact car segment grew 44 percent in Spetember. 

Tata Motors

Tata Motors on Sunday reported a 25 percent increase in domestic sales at 53,965 units in September. The company had sold 43,031 units in September 2016, Tata Motors said in a statement.

Tata Motors head-commercial vehicle business unit, Girish Wagh said that the sales were boosted by a strong customer acceptance of SCR technology and the continued ramp up of our BS4 vehicles production. The company's overall commercial vehicle sales grew 29 percent at 36,679 units in the reporting period, he added.

Hyundai

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Sunday reported a 17.4 percent increase in domestic sales at 50,028 units in September. The company had sold 42,605 units in September 2016, HMIL said in a statement.

HMIL Director, Sales and Marketing, Rakesh Srivastava said September sales were boosted by success of the newly launched Verna. Over 6,000 units of the mid-sized sedan were sold during last month, he added.

Honda

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) on Sunday reported a 21 percent increase in domestic sales at 18,257 units in September. The company had sold 15,034 units in the same month last year, HCIL said in a statement.

Last month, the company sold 504 units of small car Brio, 3,001 units of premium hatchback Jazz, 2,561 units of compact sedan Amaze and 6,010 units of mid?sized sedan City. The company also sold 4,834 units of its new compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) WR-V. Besides, SUV BR-V saw sales of 1,298 units.

Sales of SUV CR-V stood at 31 units and Accord Hybrid at 18 units last month. In addition, it exported a total of 413 units during the month under review.

HCIL President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno said the company is witnessing growth in sales, backed by strong performance of models like Honda City and WR-V.

"We have had a good start to the festive season, clocking strong sales in September. With the festive purchase on full- swing, our sales outlook for the season is very promising," he added.

Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield, the two-wheeler division of Eicher Motors, on Sunday reported a 22 percent rise in sales at 70,431 units in September. The company had sold 57,842 motorcycles in September 2016, Royal Enfield said in a statement. Domestic sales were up 22 percent at 69,393 units. Sales in the international market rose to 1,038 units, up 17 percent from the same month last year.

So far this fiscal, the company's cumulative sales have grown by 23 percent to 3,86,863 units against 3,14,424 in the corresponding period of the previous year. Royal Enfield also said it has introduced new variants of Classic 350 and Classic 500 models in gunmetal grey and stealth black colours.

Bajaj Auto

Bajaj Auto on Monday reported 14 percent increase in total sales at 4,28,752 units in September. The company had sold 3,76,765 units in the same month last year, Bajaj Auto said in a statement.

Motorcycle sales were at 3,69,678 units as against 3,31,976 in the year-ago month, up 11 percent, it added. Domestic motorcycle sales rose 7 percent to 2,47,418 units compared to 2,30,502 in September last year, the company said.

Commercial vehicles sales were up 32 percent at 59,074 units as against 44,789 in the corresponding month last year. Overall exports in September were at 1,46,973 units as against 1,21,173 in the same month last year, up 21 percent, Bajaj Auto said.

(With PTI inputs)