Maruti, Hyundai revive India's auto sector in Aug

M&M also saw its domestic passenger vehicle sales grow by 1 per cent, while Toyota Kirloskar Motor witnessed a decline in its PV sales.

The top two carmakers in India, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, led the recovery in the auto market in August with 20.2 per cent and 19.9 per cent increase in their respective domestic sales of passenger vehicles during the month.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) also saw its domestic passenger vehicle sales grow by 1 per cent last month, while Toyota Kirloskar Motor witnessed a decline in its passenger vehicle sales, although there was improvement over the preceding months since the gradual reopening of the economy.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic sales increased by 20.2 per cent to 116,704 units last month, as against 97,061 units in August 2019.

The company's total sales grew by 17.1 per cent, an increase at 124,624 units in August as compared to 106,413 units in August last year.

MSI's sales of mini cars comprising Alto and S-Presso stood at 19,709 units as compared to 10,123 units in the same month last year, up 94.7 per cent.

Sales of compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, rose 14.2 per cent to 61,956 units as against 54,274 cars in August last year.

Similarly, sales of utility vehicles, including Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga, grew by 13.5 per cent to 21,030 units as compared to 18,522 units in the year-ago month, the company said.

Second-biggest carmaker Hyundai Motor India posted a 19.9 per cent increase in domestic wholesales at 45,809 units as against 38,205 units in August 2019.

Its total sales were, however, down 6.06 per cent at 52,609 units last month as against 56,005 units in August 2019.

"The company continues humbly to contribute to the recovery of Indian automobile industry by registering domestic sales volume of 45,809 units in August with positive growth of 19.9 per cent on a comparative low base of last year," HMIL director (sales, marketing and service) Tarun Garg said.

Good response to new Creta, Verna, Tucson, NIOS and Aura has resulted in this performance and the company would like to carry on with cautious optimism as uncertainty still surrounds the pandemic, he added.

M&M's passenger vehicles sales, including utility vehicles (UVs), cars and vans, in the domestic market stood at 13,651 units in August this year, against 13,507 units in the same month last year, up 1 per cent.

"At Mahindra, we continue to see good recovery in demand both for SUVs and pick-ups in the small commercial vehicles segment," M&M Automotive Division chief executive officer Veejay Nakra said.

The company has been able to meet the uplift in demand by managing the supply chain challenges and going forward will continue to focus on it, he added.

On the other hand, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) said its sales declined by 48 per cent to 5,555 units in August. It had sold a total of 10,701 units in August 2019.

The company, however, said its sales in August this year exceeded volumes in July 2020, when it had sold 5,386 units.

"We began August with a lot of apprehensions due to the skewed rise in COVID positive cases in the Karnataka state and throughout the country.

“It had a resultant impact on both the demand and supply scenarios," TKM senior vice president - sales and service Naveen Soni said in a statement.

Fortunately, August witnessed an increase in demand for most models, including customer enquiries and orders, he added.

New entrant MG Motor India reported a 41.2 per cent increase in retail sales at 2,851 units in August as compared to 2,018 units in the same month last year.

MG Motor India, director - sales, Rakesh Sidana said, "We have ramped up the overall production in August compared to July. We are working on fulfilling existing backorders for the Hector and prioritising vehicle deliveries for the ongoing festive season."

The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp reported an 8.52 per cent increase in domestic sales at 568,674 units as against 524,003 units in August 2019.

Its total sales were up 7.55 per cent last month at 584,456 units as compared to 543,406 earlier.

Royal Enfield reported a 2 per cent decline in domestic sales at 47,571 units in August as compared to 48,752 units earlier.

Its total sales were down 5 per cent at 50,144 units as against 52,904 units in the same month last year.

Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) said its domestic sales last month stood at 53,142 units as compared to 62,785 units sold in August 2019, a decline of 15.35 per cent.

The company's total sales were down 19.15 per cent at 57,909 units as compared to 71,629 units in August last year.

Photograph: B Mathur/Reuters