Car sales for most leading manufacturers displayed little growth in September 2018 compared to sales in the same month last year. Maruti-Suzuki, the country’s leading manufacturer saw a sales growth of just 0.7 percent to 151,512 units. Hyundai Motors India actually saw domestic sales decline 4.5 per cent in September, although a 22 per cent growth in exports saw cumulative sales for the Korean manufacturer grow at a single percentage point. Tata Motors saw a significant sales growth for their passenger vehicles, 18,429 units a growth of seven per cent. American carmaker Ford saw domestic wholesale unit sales decline 500-odd units to 8239 units although significant growth in exports saw overall growth at 21 per cent. Toyota Kirloskar Motor also saw a slight decline in sales to 13078 units in September 2018.
One major reason for the stagnant growth in September 2018 is likely because 2017 saw an advanced start of the festive period, which started mid-September. Sales of all major products, particularly cars and motorcycles see a major jump in the festive period. At the same time many manufacturers stock up vehicles in their yards in advance of the festive period, also manufacturing volumes are adapted for new launches that hit the market during the festive period. Maruti just launched the new Ciaz, Ford is launching the updated Aspire later this week and Hyundai is launching the new Santro later in October.
However, two-wheeler manufacturers declared a major rise in sales for September 2018. Hero MotoCorp, the industry leader said its sales 769,138 units, and claimed this was the first time any Indian two-wheeler manufacturer had crossed the 750,000 unit monthly sales mark. Bajaj Auto also saw both domestic sales and exports shoot up, beating investor expectations and due to deregulation of three-wheeler permits saw a dramatic 20 per cent increase in three-wheeler sales and also sold over 500,000 motorcycles in the month including exports.