As per data available from the industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), as many as 389,714 cars, sedans and utility vehicles were sold in the month under consideration, which is an increase of 15.9% over 336,330 units sold in the same period in the last financial year.
This is the tenth straight month that monthly sales of passenger
vehicles have breached the best-ever mark this year. The growth in the passenger vehicle segment was supported by demand for utility vehicles, which now account for more than half the passenger vehicles sold in the local market.
Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer (marketing and sales), MSIL said the festive season has gone well so far helping the company increase its market share by 1.3% to 43% in October. “January onwards, every month has been a best-ever month for the industry, which is a very positive sign. With the semi-conductor crisis fading, automakers have been able to increase production which helped the industry report its highest-ever sales for any month in October. Retails too have been good, which have encouraged dealers to build up stocks for Diwali”, he informed.
Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer (COO), HMIL agreed, “Bookings inflow remain healthy. Despite the geopolitical uncertainties, demand momentum has remained strong which shows the resilience of the domestic market.”In fact, customer demand was strong across segments with three-wheelers and two-wheelers to posting healthy growth in October. While sales of three wheelers went up by 42.1% last month, those of two-wheelers rose 20.1% to 1,895,799 units in the same period. Vinod Aggarwal, President, SIAM said, “Both passenger vehicles and three/wheelers have posted highest ever sales of October, while two-wheelers segment has also posted good sales in the month of October 2023. All the three segments have posted double-digit growth.”
Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM confirmed, “Passenger vehicles posted the highest ever sales of October of 3.90 lakh units, with a growth of 15.9%, compared to last year. Three-wheelers also reported a decent growth of 42.1%, posting sales of about 0.77 lakh units in October 2023. 18.96 Lakh Units of Two-Wheelers were sold in October 2023, with a growth of 20.1%, as compared to October 2022.”
Automakers in India mostly report wholesale dispatches from factories and not retail sales to customers.
“This growth momentum is encouraging for the industry which has been enabled by sustained conducive policies of the Government and the ongoing festive season”, Aggarwal added.
In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp said it expects demand to remain strong on the back of recent product launches in the premium segment and good consumer sentiment in the festive season.
Meanwhile, in the passenger vehicle segment the growth rate may taper off on a high base post the festive season, industry executives said, passenger vehicle sales should cross the 4 million mark for the first time by the close of the fiscal year.