Automakers have reported higher sales in India for the month of November as the market recovers amid healthy festive demand and promotional offers from manufacturers.
Tata Motors registered domestic sales of 47,859 units in November 2020, growth of 26% over last year, while car market leader Maruti Suzuki reported 1.7% growth in November vehicle sales.
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Bakar Sadik Agwan, Senior Automotive Consulting Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, maintains that India’s auto OEMs are on the path of recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels. “We have positive growth in volume sales year-on-year and month-on-month since August,” he points out. “This followed the easing of the nationwide lockdown restrictions. November, which was the highly awaited festive season, also turned out to be a boon to majority of the OEMs with substantial new sales and the existing pent-up demand coming through.”
Maruti Suzuki reported 1.7% yoy growth in volume in November due to higher sales of vans and utility vehicles. However, its key segments – mini and compact – witnessed a decline in sales.
“But there were some notable increases,” Agwan says. “Toyota reported 2.4% y-o-y growth owing to the recently launched facelift Innova Crysta – flagbearer of Toyota in India. The company also launched a rebadged version of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza —Toyota Urban Cruiser—in September this year. Kia witnessed 50% yoy growth backed by robust demand of its recently launched Sonet. SUV giant Mahindra & Mahindra also managed to report 4% y-o-y growth with increasing demand for its new Mahindra Thar.”
Agwan notes that manufacturers also pushed sales with incentives and campaigns. “The upward sales trend can be primarily attributed to the several attractive promotions and offers introduced by the OEMs during the festive season. In addition, the existing pent-up demand and continued healthy demand of the recently launched models including Thar, Creta, Innova Crysta and Kia Sonet contributed to the new vehicle sales. Furthermore, the need for affordable personal mobility, new vehicle launches, attractive finance interest rates and offers towards the year end will continue to boost vehicle sales in December as well,” Agwan says.
