[Aditya]

NOTES:

1: Thanks to the team at Auto Punditz for sharing these sales numbers with us!

2: Only cars that sell 500+ units (and thus, the relevant ones) have been included in the gainers & losers chart.

3. These manufacturer-reported sales numbers are factory dispatches to dealerships. They are NOT retail sales figures to end customers.

[Aditya]

[Aditya]

[Aditya]

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line.

[volkman10]

Thanks Aditya for the October Analysis and data:

Some more additional points,

At the backdrop of the ongoing festive season and anticipating the demand to be back, dealers stock up inventory and the result is sales increased by an impressive 17.5% in Oct’20 v/s Oct’19.

Will the momentum continues and the industry is able to maintain the growth in the coming months?
All manufacturers’ show a growth in October, except for Renault, VW, Nissan and FCA.
Highlights of Aug-20 dispatch figures:

- Maruti Suzuki holds on to its dominance. The OEM registered a YoY increase of 17.6%.
- Tata Motors grew a phenomenal 79.2% YoY and the growth was one of the highest in the Industry. Tata Motors also recorded the highest Market Share growth in Oct’20 (it jumped from 4.6% in Oct’19 to 7.1% in Oct’20).
- Kia Motors India volumes shot up almost 1.6 times in Oct’20 v/s Oct’19. Kia also was able to project one the highest YoY growth in the Indian market which helped its market share increase by 1.8%.
- Even though Hyundai crossed 55k dispatches and recorded its all-time highest figures; its market share fell by -0.6%
- MG too recorded its all-time highest volumes. However; its YoY growth was only 6.1% v/s Industry growth of 17.6%.
Fastest Growing segment – Compact SUV
-Compact Hatchbacks was India’s largest segment in terms of volumes and it contributes to ~24% of the cars sold in India
-. Compact SUV grew a stellar 60% YoY backed by strong volumes of Brezza, Sonet & Venue, contributes to ~24% of the cars sold in India
-Compact SUV segment which ranked fourth in Aug’20; shot up to be the country’s second largest segment in Sep’20 and maintains the stand in Oct’20 as well.
- Premium Hatchback segment overtook the Mid SUVs and was the third largest segment and contributed near to 13% of the passenger car sales in India for October 2020
- Mid SUV segment fell lower the Industry YoY growth and ranked fourth in the table. It was ahead of entry level hatchbacks by 3,424 units.
- MUVs & Premium Sedans registered negative YoY growth

Top Manufactures for the Month:

Maruti Suzuki:

- Retains top 5 slots in the 10 best sellers for August and holds 7 positions in the top 10.
- Maruti’s Swift superseded Alto to become the bestselling car for both OEM and the Nation for October 2020. It is the third month in succession that Swift overtook Alto.
- Baleno too outsold Alto and jumped to the second spot. It recorded a mammoth 35% YoY growth. Also note that rebadged Toyota Glanza sold 2,978 units – the combined Baleno+Glanza sales shall be 24,949 units!
- Wagon-R was the third best-selling car in Maruti’s portfolio for Oct 2020. There is a spike seen in the sales of entry level cars and Swift/Alto/Wagon-R sales are a testimony for it.
- Alto slipped to the fourth position and was 853 units short of the third best selling Wagon R in Oct’20. It had a flat YoY growth
- Dzire was one of the few Maruti models to post a de-growth in Oct 2020 as well – drop is obviously due discontinuation of diesel variant.
- Ciaz seems to be outdated in front of the New City & Verna, drops 40 % in growth.
- In the completive CUV segment, Brezza leads the way. With Urban Cruiser combined the numbers are an impressive 15003.

Hyundai:

- Even though Hyundai crossed 55k dispatches and recorded its all time highest figures; its market share fell by -0.6%. Creta’s resounding success did help Hyundai grow – but it is still behind the Industry average.
- Hyundai crossed the 56k monthly figure for the first time in its existence in the Indian market. The previous monthly highest sales volume was 52,001 units which was achieved exactly 2 years back (in Oct’18).
- Creta was the best seller for Hyundai and contributed to almost 25% of Hyundai’s sales in October 2020! The model also emerged as India’s best selling SUV for the month..
- Creta was the best seller for Hyundai and contributed to almost 25% of Hyundai’s sales in September 2020! The model also emerged as India’s best selling SUV for the month. It was also the sole model from Hyundai to cross 12k sales in Sep’20
- Its Compact SUV loses out, Venue ranked fourth for the OEM and around 8,469 units were dispatched in September 2020 and lags behind Maruti Suzuki’s Vitara Brezza.


The segment of the month:

Compact Hatchback:

- Compact Hatchbacks was India’s largest segment in terms of volumes and it contributes to ~24% of the cars sold in India! It recorded decent YoY growth in Oct’20 and clearly signifies how first time buyers are purchasing compact hatchbacks over entry level cars.



Link

[arjab]

Interesting to see the consistent uptick in Ford's numbers. Month on month. EcoSport may be a bit long in the tooth, but a competent product nonetheless. Even the Endeavour has garnered decent numbers considering its close to Rs 3-million plus on-road pricing.
It's make or break time for Nissan. Hope the Magnite gets them the numbers to stay afloat.

[Rajeevraj]

That's a pretty solid month for the auto industry. Some of it could be due to manufacturers forcing inventory on the dealers. But I think these high numbers are an indication of good demand. Next two months would be a good indicator of extent of recovery.

Looking at the numbers, we are pretty much a compact SUV and premium hatchback country now. Apart from entry hatchbacks, rest all contribute minor numbers. Quite surprising since premium hatchbacks and compact SUVs are all pretty much above 10L OTR.

[Cessna182]

How is Nissan/Datsun surviving with these numbers? I feel bad for Datsun. Their cars are far better than the Alto. Still they sell in such low numbers. Yes they lack refinement but the space and practicality they provide for the price is unparalleled. Also, the feel safer than the Maruti cars. Maybe that's just a perception based on the size and interior quality.

[Hayek]

What a Month! Call it dealer stocking, call it pent up demand, call it what you will, but these numbers are astounding. Great news for the auto industry and the Indian economy.

On manufacturers - Maruti, what a performance. Up more than 15% growth vs October 2019, which was not a bad month, and even higher vs October 2018. And without diesel cars. Proves clearly that the need for diesels other than in body on frame SUVs is a myth - no one in a city needs a diesel car.

Tata Motors - Chandra is a fantastic manager, and he has put together an incredible team at Tata Motors. They seem to be coming back. A colleague (whose other car is an Audi A8) just bought a Harrier - shows how far Tata Motors has come. Am rooting for them to win, even if I am still too risk averse to put my money where my mouth is. Indian should become a million car a month market in the next decade, and perhaps Tata Motors can build a profitable business on the back of that. They still need to get to a mid teens market share to have a chance though.

Hyundai and Kia - I will count them together. Can’t imagine how 14,000 people but the Creta every month. But Hyundai’s read of the Indian consumer is obviously far better than mine. And with the New i20 coming in, November should be a block buster month for them. The Seltos and Sonet - far more conventionally good looking - and less surprising successes.

Think Mahindra and Toyota are doing fine too - Toyota’s rebadged Marutis are doing ok, and the Innova and Fortuner are doing fine.

But every other manufacturer needs to consider what on earth they are up to. Honda - was once competing for the #3 spot. Now, they are not a player anymore. They have just failed to even retain their customers - it is amazing that they still use NA petrol engines as the only option in their core models.

Renault - has been a mixed bag always. I would argue they have outperformed in India VS most other markets. Nissan - on the way out in my view. Unless the disputes with Renault get resolved, or even as part of a resolution, I suspect they will exit India sooner rather than later.

Jeep - I love the Compass. Before the Seltos, would have picked the Compass. But Kia has ended up giving 90% of what the Jeep offers for a lot less - and killed Jeep sales.

VW Group - yes, they are treading water waiting for their new products in 2022. But what are they doing with the Aurangabad plant? Why can’t they locally assemble the Kodiaq or Tiguan or Karoq instead of relying on CBUs without homologation. I can understand it if they didn’t have the plant. Or if they were using a different engine in these products. But they are not. So don’t get the strategy.

[TrackDay]

Sad to see Honda out of the game. Its seems while they were sleeping rest of the brands caught up and sped ahead. Hyundai-Kia is in a whole different league. Even Tata has come far from where they were a couple of years back.

[adithya.kp]

1. Outstanding performance by Maruti. My guess is that, it could be a combination of rural market and first time buyers (people who are not comfortable with public/shared transport). The premium cars are hardly moving. (S cross+ Ciaz+ XL6) = 6387 says it all.

2. I cant believe (Creta+ Seltos) = 22923. I doubt rural,tier2/3 contribute much here. I assume the majority of the sales is from tier 1 cities. But a lot of people are working from home. Why would they buy now? ( There is another category of buyers who buy stuff just to impress others. After COVID, one cant do it since offices are closed, not much travel)
Can someone help us understand who the buyers are? I am very curious to know.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

After COVID, one cant do it since offices are closed, not much travel)
Can someone help us understand who the buyers are? I am very curious to know.

Travel restrictions have been lifted all across. At least 3 people I know have bought cars in last 2 months who otherwise wouldn’t have bought a vehicle. Their reasoning: its much safer to travel in your own car than in public transport. No matter what government says and does, a lot of people are taking the virus seriously (I am glad).
All this in a semi urban/rural area. I bet bigger city folks are even more serious. I guess as long as COVID situation persists, sales would be strong despite no daily commute for few more months. It must be noted that a lot of professionals have joined offices (in my family itself). IT/software folks are mostly home.

[dragracer567]

Quick a comeback, its fairly safe to say that the industry has bounced back from the COVID woes. Since the automotive industry in India has always been an indicator of its economy, using these numbers as a barometer, we can safely say that the Indian economy is bouncing back.

Some important points:

1) Ford: Given the numbers that Ford is pulling off with the Ecosport and Endeavour, I wonder how much better position they would be if the former is replaced with a new-gen while the latter needs a bigger engine. Perhaps the new Mahindra-based models may bring about a renaissance.

2) TATA: Again, the Altros will probably do even better numbers with an automatic and a turbo-petrol, remains to be seen how the i20 affects these numbers.

3) Mahindra: Worrying but I suppose the new Thar, XUV500 and Scorpio should change improve the numbers quite a bit.

4) Nissan - Magnite is the last straw, if it fails, the brand is done for in India.

5) Renault - Kwid and Triber keeping it alive and well, a strategic error not to bring the new Duster to India.

[shailendrakr]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

2. I cant believe (Creta+ Seltos) = 22923. I doubt rural,tier2/3 contribute much here. I assume the majority of the sales is from tier 1 cities. But a lot of people are working from home. Why would they buy now? ( There is another category of buyers who buy stuff just to impress others. After COVID, one cant do it since offices are closed, not much travel)
Can someone help us understand who the buyers are? I am very curious to know.

People who have managed to retain their jobs / means of income and have disposable income will buy. Road conditions have improved. Lot of folks believe that travel in a car is safer than in public transport. I have been driving for 24 years and took my longest drive for pleasure last month. Now my better half is after me to upgrade the car so we can be more comfortable on still longer drives. Planning of the next drive is underway for December! Hence the need for a better car.