Festive season lacks sparkle for the auto industry in India

For a couple of months automotive sales numbers had been showing a slight increase and most hoped the festive month of October would bring in better numbers. Unfortunately it hasn't been so, sales have been sluggish and most manufacturers have suffered a decline with Maruti, Hyundai and Honda being the only three to show positive growth.

Maruti grew by just 1 per cent, compared to the same period last year. The 100,000 mark continues to be elusive for Maruti and even the Ciaz which the company said garnered some 10,000 plus bookings and outsold the popular Honda City failed to give it a boost. However, we expect numbers to show a slight spike next month as. This small car should bring some cheer to Maruti as it addresses the smallest yet highest potential segment in the market.

The only big gainers this month were Hyundai and Honda. Hyundai especially has been enjoying unprecedented success with its Elite i20 which has got the company over 41,000 bookings with 20,000 cars already having been delivered to owners. Honda on the other hand has been capitalising on the success of the Mobilio and even the City, both of which continue to provide the company with good numbers.

Mahindra and Tata Motors both of which also had some new products introduced recently, the new Scorpio and the Zest respectively, failed to make a dent this month.

GM continued to show a significant loss of business and the lack of a new product or clear strategy for growth in the future continues to hamper their business prospects. Sales of Ford too dipped by some 27 per cent compared to the same period last year. They too are floating solely on the Ecosport with the Figo adding some figures to the overall tally.

In the two-wheeler sector TVS motors showed a 22 per cent YOY hike largely due to resurgence in their scooter business. Sales of the recently introduced Scooty Zest added to the numbers along with those already brought in by the Jupiter and Wego. Yamaha too showed a 5 per cent growth thanks to the Alpha scooter and the new variants of the FZ series of motorcycles raising interest. Honda showed an insignificant growth with almost similar numbers as the same period last year. Hero MotoCorp's volumes continued to dip too while Mahindra which posted sales of 22,404 units attributed it to the new Gusto scooter and the Centuro motorcycle.

Overall it continues to be scooters helping two-wheeler manufacturers to grow, with their numbers exceeding those of motorcycles.