Maruti, Hyundai, Honda lead auto sales growth in September

New Delhi: Ahead of the festive season, car sales grew at a brisk pace in September with major auto makers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Honda Cars Ford and Tata Motors witnessing rise in dispatches.

However, utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra reported decline in sales last month reflecting fragmented recovery that the auto industry is witnessing.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic sales increased by 6.8 percent during the month to 1,06,083 units as against 99,290 units in September, 2014.

Sales of the company's bread and butter mini cars, including, Alto and WagonR, increased marginally to 35,570 units as compared to 35,547 units in the year-ago month.

Sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz and Dzire increased by 3.5 percent to 44,826 units.

The company's newly launched premium crossover vehicle S-Cross clocked sales of over 3,600 units during the month.

Rival Rival Hyundai Motor India saw its highest ever monthly domestic sales at 42,505 units last month as compared with 35,041 units in September 2014, up 21.3 percent.

HMIL Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said the company's growth was driven by strong performance of its modern premium brands like CRETA, Elite i20, i20 Active and Grand.

Honda Cars India also reported 23 percent increase in its domestic sales at 18,509 units in September. It had sold 15,015 units in the same month last year.

M&M's domestic sales were down 6 percent to 39,693 units last month as against 42,408 units in September last year.

"While the auto industry has witnessed a slow and fragmented recovery, the recent interest rate reduction by the RBI is bound to infuse optimism," M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said.

If the majority of the rate cut is passed on to the customers by the lending institutions, it will bring back the momentum in auto sales especially in the upcoming festival season, he added.

Tata Motors' sales of passenger cars in September were higher by 5 percent at 10,226 units, as compared to 9,766 units in same period of last year.

Its domestic passenger vehicles sales were flat at 11,774 units as against 11,931 units in the same month of previous year.

Ford India's domestic sales in September stood at 8,274 vehicles against 6,786 units, up 22 percent in the same month last year.

"Backed by a strong growth vision and great products like the new Figo and Aspire, we look forward to welcome many more customers to the Ford family this festive season," Ford India, Executive Director, Marketing, Sales & Service, Anurag Mehrotra said.

In the two-wheeler segment, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter

India (HMSI) reported 2 percent decline in total sales at 4,30,732 units in September.

Country's largest two-wheeler Hero MotoCorp reported a marginal increase in sales at 6,06,744 units in September.

Yamaha Motor India reported 13 percent increase in domestic two-wheeler sales at 67,267 units in September.

Royal Enfield, the two-wheeler division of Eicher Motors, posted sales of 43,741 units in the domestic market, up 59 percent, from 27,540 units in the same month last year.