Car, SUV sales rise nearly 17% in November

Sales of cars and SUVs to dealers by vehicle makers improved by nearly 16.5 percent during November after demand continued to stay strong even after Diwali.

As per data shared by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) the passenger vehicle segment saw sales of 307,008 (285,367 units + 21,641 units of Tata Motors) as against 263,539 (253,139 + 10,400 units of Tata Motors). Tata Motors does not share data to SIAM but releases the same to the stock exchanges.

New model launches such as Hyundai i20, Kia Sonet, Tata Altroz and Mahindra Thar helped boost volumes during November. After a fall in October, retail sales of cars and SUVs swung back in the green - registering their best-ever numbers for November as data shared by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA).

Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM said: “We have witnessed an increase in wholesale numbers in the month of November primarily on account of the festive season. While the festive season brought back some fervour in specific segments, the overall economic scenario would determine the industry’s performance going forward.”

Except for Maruti Suzuki most other large volume carmakers such as Hyundai, Tata Motors, Kia Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra posted growth during November. Renault and small volume players like Ford, Nissan Volkswagen and Skoda reported a fall in sales.

Carmakers relied on increasing the stock just in time to meet the strong retail demand during Diwali as well as to carry on with the momentum post-Diwali as well. Retail demand, as per carmakers, is expected to stay strong in December too which would translate to high wholesale volumes.

The two-wheeler industry saw an increase of 13 percent during November to 1.6 million units as against 1.41 million units clocked in the same month last year.

“The retail sales of two-wheelers lags behind the wholesale sales numbers but would even out over a period, as OEMs engage with their dealers”, Menon added.