Tata Motors moves ahead of M&M in July retail sales

Tata Motors, India’s biggest automaker by revenues, overtook Mahindra, as the third largest in terms of total vehicles retailed in July, the latest Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (Fada) data showed on Monday.

It also revealed that Maruti Suzuki, India’s top car maker and Hero MotorCorp, India’s largest motorcycle maker, strengthened their pole positions in the pandemic-hit market.

However, the passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales last month declined 25.19 per cent year-on-year to 1,57,373 units, as the pandemic continued to impact vehicle offtakes.

This is the first time the auto dealers’ body has released market share data based on vehicle registration. The Society of Indian Auto-mobile Manufacturers (Siam) releases data based on wholesale numbers (dispatches to dealers).

Tata Motors’ retails increased to 12,753 units in July, rising its market share upto 8.10 per cent from 6.07 per cent in the year-ago period. But registration of Mahindra vehicles dropped to 7,811 units last month, bringing down its market share to 5 per cent, down from 8.47 per cent in the same month last year.

The top two car makers, Maruti and Hyundai, strengthened their lead in the market in terms of market share even as volumes saw a year- on-year drop owing to the pandemic. Maruti’s share jumped from 47.24 per cent to 50.40 per cent. Hyundai’s share inched up to 18.69 per cent from 18.33 per cent in the year ago period.

Kia Motors India, one of the latest entrants in the PV market cornered 4.45 per cent in July. French carmaker Renault India too showed a smart recovery during the month, gaining share—it went up to 3.18 per cent from 2.04 per cent in the same month last year.

Most of the other PV makers saw a year-onyear drop in their share of the market, according to Fada data.

Among the two-wheeler makers, with the exception of market leader, Hero MotoCorp which saw its share go up to 40.66 per cent in July against 35.61 per cent last year, most of the other two-wheeler makers saw their share declined.

Commercial vehicle sales, a barometer of economic activity, declined 72.18 per cent year-onyear to 19,293 units, whole three-wheeler sales dropped 74.33 per cent to 15,132 units last month.

Two-wheeler sales declined 37.47 per cent to 8,74,638 units last month, while total sales across categories declined 36.27 per cent to 11,42,633 units last month.