Indian auto makers post record sales in festive October

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI - Indian automobile manufacturers Monday reported stellar sales figures for the month of October as the festive season saw rising demands.

Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, TVS, Hyundai, Ford and General Motors all posted higher sales as demand continued to grow on account of easy availability of loans and introduction of newer models.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki reported a 39.2 percent growth in sales for the month of October at 1,18,908 vehicles, the highest ever in a month.

The company also crossed 1 lakh unit sales mark in the domestic market for the first time, touching 107,555 units. The previous highest sales was 95,148 units in September 2010, the company said in a statement.

The sales also included 11,353 units of exports.

According to the company, sales were driven by its compact car (A2) segment comprising Alto, Wagon-R, Zen, Swift, Ritz and A-Star which grew at 50.7 percent and stood at 77,502 units.

The auto giant also registered a growth of 32 percent in sales of its mid-sized (A3) segment comprising of SX4 and ‘D’Zire at 11,621 vehicles.

Tata Motors, India’s biggest auto maker by sales, saw total sales of cars, sport-utility vehicles, trucks and buses climb 21 percent to 64,757 units from 53,404 a year earlier.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported 34.38 percent jump in its total sales in October at 34,495 units. The company had sold 25,670 units in the corresponding month of 2009, M&M said in a statement.

The three Chennai-based automobile manufacturers Hyundai, Ford and TVS also closed the previous month with good sale numbers.

Hyundai, the country’s second largest car manufacturer, posted its highest ever domestic sales figure in October which grew at 22.7 percent and stood at 34,725 units.

While exports went down by 25 percent, affecting the company’s cumulative sales which grew marginally at 0.9 percent to reach 52,225 units as against 51,735 units logged in October 2009.

According to Arvind Saxena, director, marketing and sales, the strong domestic demand has forced the company to change its product mix with focus more on the Indian market.

He said the refurbished i10 model sales grew 26 percent in the last two months.

The company has sold 74 units of sports utility vehicle (SUV) Santa Fe since its launch last month.

Ford India sold 9,026 units last month, up from 3,458 units sold during October 2009.

According to Michael Boneham, Ford India president and managing director, the company exported more than 650 Figos to South Africa in October.

Two and three wheeler manufacturer TVS Motor Company also reported a 48 percent increase in its sales figures for October which stood at 195,271 units as against 131,941 units in the same month of 2009.

The cumulative total sales for the period April to October 2010 stood at 1,184,065 units.

The company’s domestic sales went up to 173,771 units last month from 118,563 units sold in Oct 2009. Exports increased from 12,466 units in October 2009 to 18,051 units in October 2010.

The company sold 191,822 two wheelers and 3,449 three wheelers. The cumulative three wheeler sales this fiscal till October stood at 21,204 units.

Hero Honda Motors, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer sold over half a million two-wheelers in October with a growth of 42.7 percent over the corresponding period of 2009.

The company achieved its highest ever monthly cumulative sales with 505,553 units of two-wheelers. The previous record of highest-ever monthly sales was in May this year at 435,933 two-wheeler units.

“A refreshed product range coupled with innovative branding and marketing initiatives - can duly be attributed to this success,” said Anil Dua, senior vice-president (marketing and sales).