Industry estimates about 350,000 cars, sedans and utility vehicles were dispatches from factories to dealerships last month, which is an increase of 4% over 336,000 units sold in the corresponding period of the last financial year. Automakers in India mostly report wholesale dispatches and not retail sales to customers.
Industry numbers were supported by market leader who saw sales go up by 5% to 141,312 units in November. Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales) told ET, “The demand momentum which we saw during the festive period has continued in November. The marriage season has supported sales. SUVs especially are seeing good traction.” As much as 29% of the company’s sales came in from SUVs last month, up from about 26% at the start of the fiscal year.
Banerjee added, the newly launched DZire has seen strong acceptance among buyers, with almost half the bookings coming in from the top two variants. “We have 25,000 bookings for the model. Overall too, demand is steady. Given the lesser number of working days in November, our production team had to work on a Sunday to meet demand”, he informer.
Retail sales last month at 330,000 units, however, lower by 13% over November 2023 which had registered more customer deliveries on account of Diwali. All major festivals from Navratri to Dhanteras and Diwali this year happened in October, pushing up retails for the month.
At Korean rival Hyundai Motor India sales dipped by about 2% to 48,246 units: Tarun Garg, Whole-time Director and Chief Operating Officer, HMIL said, the company’s push towards fortifying its presence in the fast-growing SUV segment continued in November. SUVs account of about half of all vehicles sold in the Indian market, currently. “SUVs contributed 68.8% of our total domestic sales. We also bolstered HMIL’s presence in the hinterland of India, by achieving highest ever monthly rural contribution of 22.1% in November”, Garg informed.
Meanwhile, homegrown auto major Tata Motors saw sales do up by 2% to 46,063 units. Japanese auto major Toyota – which operates through a joint venture with the Kirloksar Group in India – continued to report robust numbers. Sales at the company went up by as much as 45% to 24,446 units in November.
While vehicles such as Innova Crysta and Toyota Fortuner continue to command a waiting period running to several months due to high demand, exclusive year-end benefits of over Rs 1 lakh on select models, including the Urban Cruiser Taisor, Toyota Glanza and Rumion (excluding CNG variants), available until December 31, 2024, have “played a key role in driving robust sales momentum”, the company said.
“This (promotional offer) has been instrumental in providing customers with exceptional value and contributing to Toyota’s continued success in meeting market demand. The year 2024 has exceeded our expectations and we are gearing up to close it on a strong note, with a continued focus on redefining customer experience to effectively meet evolving market demands.” Sabari Manohar – Vice President, Sales-Service-Used Car Business, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said.
At JSW MG Motor India sales rose 20% to 6,019 units in November. The company said as much as 70% of these volumes came in from new energy vehicles (EVs).
In the two-wheeler segment, demand remained healthy amid improved consumer sentiments in rural areas. Chennai-based TVS Motor Company saw sales go up by 6% to 305,323 units in November 2024.
