November sales scale new heights grow forty point eight percent

In what has been one of the strongest performances in recent history, domestic automotive sales in November scaled new heights. Low financing rates for new vehicles and improved demand from consumers ensured good growth in all four segments — four-wheelers, three-wheelers, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles.

Total vehicle sales rose 45.8 percent in the domestic market to amass 1,037,133 units, against 711,363 units in the same period last year. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said the sales were the highest for the current year, taking over the sales growth in August, when the industry sales grew by 24 percent.

The growth is significant considering the difficulties the Indian auto sector went through last November as fallout of the global economic crisis. Thanks to the Government’s positive intent, sales started showing positive numbers sometime in February 2009. The strong November sales are a result of the low base of last year, said experts Auto Monitor spoke to.

Vehicle sales since April 2009 have been in double digits, barring single digit growth in May and September, SIAM said. Significantly, demand remains strong in the passenger vehicle space even after the festive season, and the commercial vehicle recovery appears to be gathering strong momentum.

Commercial Vehicles

The CV segment, which for the past many months was reeling under severe pressure, especially the medium and heavy duty segment, grew 98 percent, higher than the 52 percent growth it experienced in October 2009. 

In the M&HCV segment, domestic sales in November grew an exceptional 133.72 percent over the corresponding month last year to 19,369 units from the previous year’s 8,325 units. The cumulative April-November figures this year is fast catching up to the previous year’s numbers 135,630 units. The 132,357 units M&HCVs accounted for this year meant de-growth of a small 2.41 percent.

The LCV segment continued its good run clocking a 74.53 percent growth in November 2009 as against the corresponding month last year. CV makers sold 21,478 units in the LCV segment last month compared to 12,306 units last November. Cumulative comparison of the April-November period in 2008-09 and 2009-10 showed a 27.39 percent growth to reach 171,604 units from the previous fiscal’s 134,705 units.

Total CV sales for November 2009 stood at 40,847 units as compared to 20,631 units last year. Cumulative figures for April-November accounted for 303,961 units this year as against  last year’s 270,335 units, a growth of 12.44 percent.

Passenger Vehicles

The passenger vehicle segment grew 66.54 percent to reach 166,653 units from the previous year’s November figures of 100,066 units. Data released by SIAM showed growth in the cumulative period of April-November at 21.21 percent to reach 1,218,814units. The passenger car segment, which grew 61 percent in November, had last scaled such heights in February 2004, when it grew 73.1 per cent. Domestic passenger car sales were at 133,687 units, while in the same month last year, sales stood at 83,121 units.

Market leader, Maruti Suzuki India remained clearly ahead of the rest with the highest sales at 87,807 vehicles in November 2009, against 47,704 vehicles sold in November 2008 — a growth of 84 percent. The company mentioned in its sales release that November 2008 was an exceptionally low sales month, due to impact of economic slowdown. The company was followed by Hyundai with cumulative sales accounting for 55,265 units that reflect a 28.5 percent growth over November 2008. Domestic sales almost doubled to 28,162 units in November 2009 registering a growth of 92.8 percent over the same month last year. Tata Motors also posted