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Car sales in India raced to a monthly record in October, initial data from automakers showed, as festive season deals and GST cuts drew buyers to automobile showrooms. Initial industry estimates showed Indians bought as many as 470,000 cars, sedans and sports utility vehicles (SUV) last month — 17% higher than in October 2024. The earlier sales record was made in January this year, when carmakers dispatched 405,500 units.Automakers in India mostly report wholesale dispatches from factories and not retail sales to customers. Industry leader Maruti Suzuki, and its closest rivals Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), reported bestever monthly sales in October. While Maruti Suzuki reported an increase of 10.5% to 176,318 units last month, Tata Motors and Mahindra sold 61,134 units and 71,624 units, respectively. Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki, said while industry data are yet to be compiled and published officially, automakers are likely to have posted the highest-ever monthly retail sales in October. Live EventsWorking overtimeWith strong retail sales on-ground, companies accelerated dispatches to build stocks at dealerships.“In the 40-day festive period between Navratri and Diwali, we received 500,000 bookings and retailed 410,000 units,” Banerjee said. “In October alone, our retail sales climbed 20% to 242,096 units. We only have stocks of about 19 days (104,000 units) in the channels. Our production teams are working overtime to fulfil pending orders quickly.” Mahindra reported record SUV sales in the month. “In October, we achieved SUV sales of 71,624 units, a growth of 31%, which is the highest SUV sales we have clocked ever,” said Nalinikanth Gollagunta, chief executive of the automotive division, M&M.Tata Motors, which is the leader in the local electric vehicles (EV) market, posted a growth of 27% to deliver record monthly dispatches for the second consecutive month. SUVs led the charge in the total Tata Motors tally, selling more than 47,000 units; sales of electric vehicles, too, climbed 73% to 9,286 units.The company said it saw an “unprecedented festive momentum” with robust retail demand that drove monthly registrations to a record.Data from the Vahan portal showed Tata Motors continued to hold the second spot in the local passenger vehicle (PV) market, ahead of M&M and Hyundai Motor India.At Hyundai, wholesale dispatches to dealers retreated 3% to 53,792 units in the month under review.GST cuts“October was a month driven by the festivals of Dussehra, Dhanteras and Diwali, further complemented by the positive impact of GST 2.0 reforms,” said Tarun Garg, whole-time director and chief operating officer, HMIL. According to him, bookings for the new facelifted compact SUV Venue should help the automaker boost volumes. Meanwhile, Toyota Kirloskar Motor saw sales climb 43% to a record 40,257 units. “The favourable economic environment during the festive season, reinforced by the government’s forwardlooking GST reforms, has also boosted market confidence. At Toyota Kirloskar, this has resulted in a significant rise in customer enquiries and order intakes, collectively driving our overall performance,” said Varinder Wadhwa, vice-president of its sales service, used car business.Two-wheeler sales also remained healthy.At TVS Motor Co, domestic two-wheeler sales registered a growth of 8% to 421,631 units last month from 390,489 units in October 2024. Suzuki Motorcycle India’s domestic sales closed at 103,454 units compared with 104,940 units in the same month last year. Its retail sales, however, reached an all-time high of 140,679 units in October.In the commercial vehicle segment, market leader Tata Motors saw sales climb 7% to 35,108 units. Rival Ashok Leyland, too, reported an increase of 16% in domestic volumes to 16,314 units in the month under review.In the farm equipment sector, Mahindra Tractors sold 72,071 units last month, translating into an increase of 12% over 64,326 units reported in the year-ago period. “For the festive period of September and October put together, the growth is 27.4% over the same period last year,” said Veejay Nakra, president of farm equipment business at Mahindra & Mahindra. A good monsoon, combined with the benefit of the GST rate cut announced in September, supported the strong performance. Going forward, factors such as a timely onset of the Rabi sowing and good progress in Kharif harvesting augur well for tractor sales.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) Read More News onmaruti suzukitata motorsCar sales in IndiaMaruti Suzuki sales increaserecord car sales October 2024restraining GST cutsTata Motors sales reportMahindra sales figuresbest monthly salesSUV sales growth (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)Read More News onmaruti suzukitata motorsCar sales in IndiaMaruti Suzuki sales increaserecord car sales October 2024restraining GST cutsTata Motors sales reportMahindra sales figuresbest monthly salesSUV sales growth(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless
