Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai lead passenger vehicle sales growth in August

New Delhi: Monthly passenger vehicle sales shot up in strong double digits for the first time in nearly two years, as steady retail demand coupled with easing of constraints in the supply chain after the lockdown helped manufacturers produce and dispatch more vehicles in August.

The industry estimates around 234,000 passenger vehicles were dispatched from factories last month, an about 20% increase compared with 195,800 units a year earlier. In August last year, the wholesale number had fallen almost 32% and that low base aided the year-on-year comparison for last month. The estimated sales for last month were 18% more than in July.

Commercial vehicle companies continued to report lower sales from a year earlier, but the numbers increased sequentially.


Automakers in India report wholesale dispatches from factories to dealers and not retail sales made to customers.

Industry numbers were buoyed by the performance of the country’s top two carmakers, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India — sales for both grew by a fifth in the local market.

Maruti Suzuki reported growth of 21.3%, dispatching 113,033 passenger vehicles to dealerships in India. While sales of mini cars Alto and S-Presso nearly doubled at 19,709 units, those of compact cars (Swift, DZire, Tour S,Baleno, Celerio, Ignis and WagonR) rose over 14% to 61,956 units. The midsize
sedan Ciaz though saw a 23% fall in sales at 1,223 units. Wholesale volumes in the utility vehicle segment (Ertiga, XL6, Vitara Brezza, S-Cross) increased 13.5% to 21,030 units.

Hyundai Motor India’s sales rose 20% to 45,809 units. Tarun Garg, its director of sales, marketing & service, said: good response to the new Creta, Verna, Tucson, Nios, Aura and recently launched Venue had helped the performance. “We would like to carry on with cautious optimism as uncertainty still surrounds the pandemic,” he said.

At homegrown automaker Mahindra & Mahindra, wholesale volumes grew marginally to 13,651 units.

Chief executive (automotive division) Veejay Nakra said: “At Mahindra, we continue to see good recovery in demand both for SUVs and pick-ups in the small commercial vehicles segment … We have been able to meet the uplift in demand by managing the supply chain challenges and, going forward, will continue to keep our focus on it.”

Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported a 48% plunge in sales to 5,555 units. Volumes, however, grew sequentially. Retail sales were 25% higher than wholesales, the company said.

“August witnessed an increase in demand for most of our models akin to pre-Covid times, including customer enquiries and orders. However, supplying vehicles from our end (to dealers) posed a challenge due to the rising number of Covid cases in Bangalore (its factory is located near the city) and its surrounding areas, where most of our workforces reside,” said Naveen Soni,senior vice president (sales & service).

The company had to ramp down production to a single shift to safeguard the health and safety of its employees, it said. In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp sold 568,674 units in
the domestic market, which is an increase of 8.5% over 524,003 units a year-earlier. The company said it was witnessing strong retail off-take with rural and semi-urban centres driving demand.

Among commercial vehicle makers, Ashok Leyland posted a 30% fall in sales from a year earlier to 5,824 units. But from July, its numbers increased 36%. At VE Commercial Vehicles, volumes fell 31% on year to 2,227 units.

Mitul Shah, vice-president (research), Reliance Securities, said: “Despite the y-o-y decline in MHCV (medium and heavy commercial vehicle) segment, sequential improvement is remarkable … We expect auto volume to remain strong over the next 2-3 months on the back of upcoming festivals, healthy rural demand, urban recovery post unlocking and channel re-filling at dealers’ end.”

Strong consumer sentiment in rural markets continued to augur well for tractor manufacturers. Mahindra sold 23,503 tractors, an increase of 69% over a year earlier. “We expect rural sentiments to remain positive and translate into robust tractor demand as we move into the festive period,” said Hemant Sikka, president (farm equipment sector), M&M.

Sonalika Tractor registered its highest ever domestic growth of 80% in the past month, when it sold 8,205 tractors.