Festive cheer for car makers as sales pick up: Report

After months of decline in sales, car makers got a reason to cheer during this festive season as the sales went up by five to seven per cent compared to last year.

Top two car makers, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, registered seven per cent and 10% growth, respectively, in the 'Navratri' to 'Dussehra' period, according to a report by The Economic Times. On 'Dhanteras', October 25, deliveries exceeded double-digit growth from the previous year for the two carmakers, accounting for 65-70% of the market. Mahindra, the third-largest firm, also registered a 100% spike in the sale of utility vehicles on 'Dhanteras'.

Over the 10-day period between 'Navratri' to 'Dussehra', Maruti Suzuki delivered more than 60,000 cars whereas Hyundai Motor delivered over 25,000 cars. On 'Dhanteras', Maruti Suzuki delivered over 45,000 cars whereas Hyundai delivered about 14,000 cars, according to the report.

“The absolute retails in 'Navratri' and 'Dussehra' were higher than 10-day festivities in the previous year and the momentum has continued for 'Dhanteras',” Maruti Suzuki sales and marketing executive director Shashank Srivastava told the newspaper.

He added that there is definitely a much better sentiment in the market place, but one can also say that market has revived only after seeing the momentum in the next few months.

According to the report, majority of the demands came in from the North and East, which together account for 50-55% of total sales of two-wheeler and passenger cars.

Hyundai Motor India confirmed 10% growth during the festive season. “Compared to last year, the retail is up by 30% approximately on 'Dhanteras',” Hyundai Motor India national sales head Vikas Jain said.

“While in October things have looked up compared to last month (September), compared to October 2018, industry will still be negative by 7 to 8%. But this is recovery compared to degrowth of 30% or 20%. Also, this time all segments have moved up. And other positive is both urban and rural markets have grown," he added.

India's passenger vehicle sales slumped 23.7% in September - the eleventh straight month of declines - amid one of the worst slowdowns seen in the auto industry, data released by an industry body showed. The domestic automobile industry has been witnessing a crippling slowdown in demand that led to production cuts and thousands of job losses.