New launches, festivals drive car sales in Sep
MUMBAI: Indians purchased newly launched automobile models in September, a period that coincided with the celebrations of the Hindu festivals of Navratra and Dusshera and considered an auspicious time for purchases, according to monthly sales data released by auto makers.
Sales are expected to remain buoyant in the current month as Dhanteras and Diwali, which fall on October 17 and 19 respectively, are also considered auspicious for purchases of consumer durables and automobiles.
However, volumes are expected to moderate once the festive demand dries up from November and weak economic cues weigh down sentiments. To some extent, the re-stocking trend which took effect in August after the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) also led to higher despatches.
Ahead of the implementation of GST, several firms had liquidated stocks.
Auto makers in India count despatches to dealerships as sales. Driven by models such as the Baleno and Vitara Brezza, September sales at market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd rose 9.6% to 150,521 units from a year ago.
While sales of the company’s old workhorses such as WagonR and Alto fell 13.3%, the Baleno propped up Maruti’s compact car model sales by 44.7%.
The Brezza, Maruti’s compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) model, increased utility vehicles sales by 8%.
The firm also launched a new version of the S-Cross, its premium SUV on October 1 with prices starting from ₹8.49 lakh up to ₹11.29 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi).
In a statement, Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and chief executive described the S-Cross, in its newest form as “an important milestone” in Maruti’s journey of transformation.
Led by the new generation Verna, of which it has sold 6,000 units since its launch, Hyundai Motor India Ltd increased sales to a record 50,028 units, up 17.4% from a year ago.
Rakesh Srivastava, director sales and marketing at the firm, alluded the good sales performance of last month to “the multiplier effect of phenomenal performance” of the Verna along with strong pull for existing models including the Creta, Elitei20, Grand i10, this festive season.
Auto sales have risen despite an increase in cess which was followed by a price hike on premium models, rising fuel prices and weak economic cues.
But sales are likely to moderate from next month, said Abdul Majeed, auto practice leader at PwC India. India’s economic growth fell to a three-year low of 5.7% in the April-to-June quarter.
Aided by its new models including the Tiago compact car, Tigor compact sedan and Hexa SUV, passenger vehicles sales at Tata Motors Ltd continued to climb, up 18% to 17,286 units from a year ago, the highest since November 2012.