Car sales mark muted growth in Oct

Automobile makers, including Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, Mahindra and Tata Motors, reported single digit growth in domestic passenger vehicle sales in October with festival season purchases remaining largely muted.

Although the overall numbers were also impacted by high base effect of last year, Hyundai's domestic sales declined marginally, while Ford saw a 44% dip as it prepared to launch an updated version of its best selling compact SUV, EcoSport.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic were at 1,36,000 units, up 9.9% from 1,23,764 in October last year.

The sales were mainly driven by compact segment comprising Swift, Dzire and Baleno, which jumped by 24.7% to 62,480 units last month against 50,116 units in the year-ago month.

Utility vehicle sales, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara, Ertiga, S-Cross and compact SUV Vitara Brezza increased by 29.8% to 23,382 units in October, from 18,008 in the same month of 2016, MSI added. However, mini segment cars, including Alto and WagonR, witnessed a 4.2% decline to 32,490 units during the month under review, from 33,929 in October 2016, MSI said.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has reported a 6.45% rise in domestic sales at 12,403 units in October. The company had sold a total of 11,651 units in the same month last year, TKM said in a statement.

Homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra reported a marginally growth in its domestic sales at 48,818 units last month compared  with 48,729 in October 2016.

Last year all festivals were in October and the industry volumes had a high base, M&M President, Automotive sector Rajan Wadhera said. He cautioned that going forward the auto industry would enter into a year-end period of lower sales. Tata Motors said its passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market grew by 1% year-on-year to 16,475 units last month.

Ford India reported 43.82% decline in domestic sales at 4,218 units last month against 7,508 in October last year. Explaining the sales decline, Ford India President and MD Anurag Mehrotra said, "The ramp-up for new model introduction has impacted our wholesale for October."    

Hyundai Motor India also reported a marginal decline in domestic sales at 49,588 units in October against 50,017 units in the same month last year.