Maruti, Hyundai steer sales revival in August

New Delhi: 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 wholesales of passenger vehicles during the month.

"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.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) also saw its domestic passenger vehicle sales grow by one 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.

"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 country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic sales increased by 20.2 per cent to 1,16,704 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 1,24,624 units in August as compared to 1,06,413 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.

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.

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.