Festive demand, strong SUV offtake propel domestic passenger vehicle sales to record high in August

Domestic passenger vehicle sales hit a record in August led by highest-ever monthly dispatches from Maruti Suzuki on the back of festive demand and the continued strong offtake of SUVs.

Hyundai Motor India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar Motor also reported strong dispatches to dealers last month.

Tata Motors, however, saw a dip in domestic passenger vehicle sales in August."The month of August was a very good month for the industry.

Passenger vehicle sales in August stood at 3,60,897 units. This is the highest ever monthly sales in any month in any year in the industry," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Senior Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales) Shashank Srivastava said.

The previous highest for the industry was 3,55,400 units reported in September 2022, he added.

The industry wholesales last month grew by 9.7 per cent to 3,60,897 units as compared with 3,26,980 units in August 2022, Srivastava said.

In the April-August period, the industry sales crossed the 17 lakh units mark which is a growth of 8 per cent over the same period of the previous fiscal, he added.

Srivastava noted that the SUV segment continued to perform well and accounted for 48.6 per cent of the overall passenger vehicle industry in August.The SUV contribution to the domestic passenger vehicle industry stood at 43 per cent in FY23.

The festive season which started with Onam in Kerala has led to a very positive retail growth of 25 per cent in Kerala, Srivastava said.MSI reported its highest-ever monthly wholesales at 1,89,082 units in August on the back of robust sales in the SUV segment. The country's largest carmaker became the leading player in the domestic SUV segment in the April-August period on the back of models like Grand Vitara, Brezza and Jimny.

The auto major's overall dispatches to dealers last month were 14 per cent higher as compared to 1,65,173 units in August 2022.

The company previously reported its record monthly sales of 1,82,448 units in October 2020.Total domestic passenger vehicle sales were at 1,56,114 units as against 1,34,166 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 16 per cent.

Utility vehicles, consisting of Brezza, Grand Vitara, Jimny, Ertiga and XL6, clocked sales of 58,746 units last month, over two-fold increase as compared to 26,932 units in August last year.

Srivastava said the company has become the leading player in the SUV segment in the April-August period this fiscal by overtaking Mahindra & Mahindra.

"In August we have become number one in the SUV segment on a cumulative basis that is from April-August," he noted.

The company's SUV sales in August stood at 41,658 units while Mahindra & Mahindra sales stood at 37,233 units in the segment, Srivastava noted.

He noted that the company's wholesale market share has gone up to 43.5 per cent in August as compared with 40.8 per cent in August 2022.

The company's scrip raced to a fresh lifetime high before settling more than 3 per cent up on the back of August sales data.

The stock of the company opened at Rs 10,000 apiece on the BSE, then gained further ground to touch a fresh 52-week high of Rs 10,390 apiece on the BSE and Rs 10,397.95 each on the NSE.The stock closed 3.24 per cent up at Rs 10,331.80 on BSE while on NSE, it gained 3.16 per cent to end at Rs 10,320.10 apiece.

Hyundai Motor India said its domestic wholesales rose by 9 per cent to 53,830 units last month, from 49,510 units in the year-ago period.

The festival season in the country has kicked off on a positive note with strong Onam sales in the Kerala market and this is an indication of the festive fervour in other parts of the country in the coming months, Hyundai Motor India COO Tarun Garg noted.Mahindra & Mahindra said its passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market rose by 25 per cent to 37,270 units last month as against 29,852 units in August last year.

"We clocked our highest-ever SUV domestic sales of 37,270 (units) in a month with a growth of 26 per cent...While demand for our key SUV brands continues to be strong, we are keeping a close watch on the availability of semiconductors and select parts, for sustained and smooth scale-up," M&M President Automotive Division Veejay Nakra said.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported its best-ever monthly sales at 22,910 units in August.

The company's total dispatches to dealers increased by 53 per cent last month to 22,910 units as compared with 14,959 units in August 2022.

The company said it sold 20,970 units in the domestic market last month.

Tata Motors said its passenger vehicle sales, including electric vehicles, in the domestic market declined by 3.5 per cent at 45,513 units last month as against 47,166 units in August 2022.MG Motor India reported a 9 per cent year-on-year increase in retail sales at 4,185 units in August. The automaker had sold 3,823 units in August 2022.

n the two-wheeler space, Bajaj Auto said its total vehicle sales, including sale of commercial vehicles, declined 15 per cent to 3,41,648 units in August.

The company had reported total sales of 4,01,595 vehicles in August last year.TVS Motor Company reported a 4 per cent growth in total sales at 3,45,848 units in August 2023 as compared to 3,33,787 units in the same month last year.

Mid-sized motorcycle maker Royal Enfield said its total sales increased by 11 per cent at 77,583 units in August 2023.

The company had sold 70,112 units in the same month last year, Royal Enfield said in a statement.Domestic sales were at 69,393 units as against 62,892 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 10 per cent.