Top Five Passenger Vehicle, Two-Wheeler Makers In August 2017

The Indian passenger vehicle industry registered a growth of 14.49 per cent during the month of August 2017 as consumers tried to make the most out of the price reductions announced by the manufacturers post goods and services tax (GST) implementation.

While passenger vehicles’ domestic sales went up by 13.76 per cent at 294,335 units, two-wheelers posted growth of 14.69 per cent and stood at 18,91,062 units.

According to Abdul Majeed, Partner, Price Waterhouse, "August 2017 sales reflects a mixed bag, segment like commercial vehicle and two-wheelers continue to grow on back of positive sentiment, passenger cars got impacted due to uncertainty in GST cess.”

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd remained the highest selling passenger vehicle (PV) manufacturer and Hero MotoCorp topped the list of being the best-selling two-wheeler maker for the said month.

Top Five Passenger Vehicle Makers

Maruti Suzuki continued to lead the sales chart with year-on-year growth of 26.20 per cent with 151,270 PVs sold in the domestic market for the month of August 2017.

It charted maximum sales growth of 62.4 per cent in its compact car segment, which has vehicles like Swift, Celerio, Ignis, and Baleno. This was followed by the utility vehicles, which reported an increase of 27.6 per cent, and includes Vitara Brezza, S-Cross etc.

Indian arm of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor stood second in the list with 47,103 vehicles sold in August 2017 as against 43,201 units during August 2016. The company has attributed this growth majorly to the strong demand for newly launched Next Gen Verna, along with its best-selling vehicles Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta.

Mahindra & Mahindra retained its third spot with year-on-year growth of 6 per cent. Within PVs, Mahindra utility vehicles’ sales went up by 7 per cent, however, the automaker’s cars and vans reported de-growth of 5 per cent in the domestic market during August 2017.

Interestingly, Honda Cars India overtook Tata Motors, after two months, to become the fourth largest passenger vehicle manufacturer in India. While Honda Cars’ monthly sales surged 25 per cent, Tata Motors witnessed growth of 10 per cent. Honda Cars sold 3,025 units more than Tata Motors in the domestic market, mainly on the back of its Sedan City and sports utility vehicle (SUV) WR-V.

Taking about the overall PV sector performance, Majeed said, “GST council has taken mid path for overall increase of cess on bigger vehicles including SUV, growth looks positive for automotive industry this year. Luxury and bigger vehicles will have normal growth as opposed to significant growth as expected due to higher GST rates."

Top Five Two-Wheeler Makers

Maintaining a consistent trend of six-lakh-plus sales for the fourth consecutive month in August 2017, Hero MotoCorp remained the chart-topping two-wheeler maker in the country. The company’s previous highest in monthly sales was recorded in September 2016 when the company had sold 674,961 units.

With a market share of 31 per cent in Indian two-wheeler industry, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India was at the second spot with year-on-year sales growth of 26 per cent. Honda scooters’ sales jumped 48 per cent, while motorcycles experienced a hike of 17 per cent. On the domestic front, Honda’s both scooters and motorcycles touched their highest sales mark.

The gap, in sales numbers, between Hero MotoCorp and Honda Two-Wheelers stands at 75,317 units.

Chennai based TVS Motor Company stood third with 270,544 units sold in August when compared with 238,984 two-wheelers during August 2016.

Bajaj Auto, with de-growth of 2 per cent, remained the fourth largest two-wheeler maker, sales wise, and at the fifth position stands India Yamaha Motor with growth of 4 per cent.