Domestic passenger car sales jump 10% in November

Passenger car sales in India rose 10.39 per cent in November — 13th consecutive month of growth —  as the domestic auto industry continues to drive on the slow road to recovery. According to the data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic car sales in November stood at 1,73,111 units compared with 1,56,811 units in the same month last year.

Overall passenger vehicle sales during the month grew by 11.4 per cent to 2,36,664 units as against 2,12,437 units in the year-ago period.

"It is the 13th consecutive month of growth for the passenger cars. We posted some growth during November but rural off take remains pretty low and is pulling us down," Siam Director General Vishnu Mathur told reporters here.

The growth has come from recent launches like Maruti Baleno and Renault Kwid and also there has been some positive impact of the festival season which extended into some part of November, he added.

"It's a slow recovery process that is happening in the car segment but situation in the rural markets is not very encouraging," Mathur said.

When asked about the sales forecast in the remaining part of the financial year, he added: "We expect the passenger vehicle segment to grow in the range 8-10 per cent"

During the month, market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted a growth of 10.57 per cent in its passenger vehicles sales at 1,10,599 units. Its car sales rose 8.71 per cent to 89,479 units during the period.

Rival Hyundai Motor India saw its passenger vehicle sales increase by 22.92 per cent to 43,651 units in November, driven by newly launched SUV Creta. Its passenger car sales jumped 6.55 per cent to 37,771 units during November compared with 35,448 units in the same period of previous year.

Honda Cars India's sales stood at 14,276 units as against 11,612 units in the same month last year, up 22.94 per cent, SIAM said.

Homegrown Tata Motors' domestic car sales were at 9,172 units compared with 10,286 units in the same month previous year, down 10.83 per cent.

Utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra saw its sales rise 37.27 per cent to 18,686 units as against 13,612 units in November last year, riding on new model TUV300.

As per Siam data, motorcycle sales rose 1.58 per cent to 8,66,705 units in November as against 8,53,257 units sold during the same month last year.

Mathur said: "Lack of growth in the motorcycle sales is a cause of concern of us. Even the scooter sales, which is an urban phenomenon, have gone down." During November, market leader Hero MotoCorp saw its bike sales rise 2.92 per cent to 4,71,881 units as against 4,58,481 units in same period of last year.

Bajaj Auto saw sales rise 19.59 per cent to 1,52,663 units in November as against 1,27,649 units in the year-ago month, Siam said.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bike sales decline by 23.87 per cent to 1,04,132 units as against 1,36,789 units in November last year.

Scooter sales saw a modest growth of 2.45 per cent during the month at 3,96,024 units compared with 3,86,547 units in the same period of previous year. HMSI saw its scooter sales decline 4.21 per cent at 2,07,814 units as against 2,16,954 units in the corresponding month last year.

Hero MotoCorp sales rose 6.04 per cent to 66,299 units in November as against 62,520 units during the same period of previous year. Chennai-based TVS Motor saw its scooter sales increase 16.92 per cent at 71,720 units in November as against 61,336 units in the same month last year.

Total sales of two-wheelers rose 1.47 per cent last month to 13,20,561 units as against 13,01,434 units in November, 2014.

Sales of commercial vehicles were up 8.56 per cent to 51,766 units in November, Siam said.

Vehicle sales across categories registered a 3.18 per cent increase to 16,54,226 units from 16,03,312 units in November 2014, it added.