This marked the fourth straight month of a double-digit growth in domestic car sales. Car sales grew by 17% in October, 19% in November, and 27% in December, as consumers rushed to showrooms to benefit from price cuts on cars and SUVs following a ...
By ET Bureau |
New Delhi: Passenger vehicle sales in India rose by 12.5% from a year earlier in January to more than 456,000 units, thanks to sustained demand momentum following tax cuts and reduced vehicle prices. Sales rose by 14% from 399,000 vehicles in December.
This marked the fourth straight month of a double-digit growth in domestic car sales. Car sales grew by 17% in October, 19% in November, and 27% in December, as consumers rushed to showrooms to benefit from price cuts on cars and SUVs following a reduction in goods and services tax (GST) with effect from September 22.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki said demand remains robust, with the company recording a 25% rise in bookings in January. "Demand in the market seems to be pretty good, the tailwinds are there," said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer, marketing and sales. "Our network stocks are low; we are working on calibrating production across our portfolio to ensure that the waiting period is not too long on any product." Maruti Suzuki's sales inched up by a marginal 0.5% to 174,529 units in January. Given the market momentum, Tarun Garg, managing director and chief executive officer, Hyundai Motor India said domestic passenger vehicle sales are expected to grow by 5-6% in FY27. Hyundai India recorded 9.5% sales growth at 59,107 vehicles last month. It was the company's highest-ever monthly sales, and it tracks Garg taking charge on January 1-the first Indian to lead the Korean automaker's local unit.
Sales at homegrown automakers Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) surged by 46% and 25%, respectively, from a year earlier. Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO, automotive division at M&M, said the company has started the year on a strong note. "On January 14, we opened bookings for XUV7XO and XEV 9S clocking 93,689 bookings for a booking value of ₹20,500 crore-a record breaking milestone in just 4 hours," he said.
At Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), sales increased 17% to 30,630 units in January. Sabari Manohar, executive vice president, sales-service-used car business said the company is seeing "continued momentum" across its product portfolio.
The two-wheeler segment too saw robust demand in January. Hero MotoCorp's sales increased 26% to 520,208 units. Chennai-based TVS Motor recorded a 30% increase at 383,262 units while sales at midsize motorcycle maker Royal Enfield grew 16% to 93,781 units.
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"The new year has begun on a positive note for Royal Enfield-extending the strong momentum from the previous quarter and marking four consecutive months of healthy double-digit growth," said B Govindarajan, managing director, Eicher Motors and CEO, Royal Enfield.
In the CV segment, sales at Tata Motors grew 29% to 38,844 units while Eicher branded trucks and buses saw a 24% rise at 9,729 units.
In the farm equipment sector, Mahindra sold 38,484 tractors in January, a 46% growth over last year.
