February Auto Sales: M&M Auto Sales Rise 10%, Tractor Sales Decline

Honda Cars India Ltd. sold 13,527 units in February compared to 11,650 units in the corresponding month in 2018, according to Bloomberg.

TVS Motor Company Ltd.'s sales rose 3 percent year-on-year to 2.99 lakh units in February, according to its media statement on the exchanges.

Key Highlights (YoY)

• Total two-wheeler sales rose 2 percent to 2.86 lakh units.
• Domestic two-wheeler sales were flat at 2.32 lakh units.
• Scooter sales fell 9 percent to 86,935 units.
• Three-wheeler sales rose 41 percent to 13,742 units.
• Exports rose 14 percent to 66,570 units.

Tata Motors Ltd. sold 57,221 units last month, a fall of 3 percent from the year-ago period, according to its stock exchange notification. The fall in sales was due to continued weak consumer sentiment, the company said in a statement. India’s largest commercial vehicles maker also saw a decline in medium and heavy trucks due to low demand as a result of the revised axle load norms.

Key Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic passenger vehicle sales was up 2 percent at 18,110 units.
• Domestic commercial vehicle sales down 5 percent at 39,111 units.
• Medium and heavy commercial truck sales down 18 percent at 15,241 units.
• Exports down 39 percent at 2,930 units due to congestion at Bangladesh border, new regulations and political uncertainty in Sri Lanka and slump in Middle East automotive market, the filing said.

Eicher Motors Ltd.’s VE Commercial Vehicles’ sales declined 6.7 percent on a yearly basis to 6,428 units, according to its stock exchange filing.

Shares of the company fell as much as 0.8 percent to 19,720.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. rose 10 percent on a yearly basis last month while its tractor sales fell 8 percent, according to its stock exchange filing.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Passenger vehicle sales rose 17 percent to 26,109 units.
• Utility vehicle sales rose 16 percent to 24349 units.
• Sales of cars and vans including company’s unit Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd. rose 25 percent to 1,760 units.
• Commercial vehicle sales rose 1 percent to 21,154 units.
• Light commercial vehicle sales up to 3.5T rose 2 percent to 19,647 units.
• Light commercial vehicle sales above 3.5T fell 8 percent to 821 units.
• Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales fell 17 percent to 686 units.
• Three wheeler sales rose 10 percent to 5,652 units.
• Total domestic vehicle sales rose 9 percent to 52,915 units.
• Total exports rose 16 percent to 3,090 units.

Tractor Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic sales fell 7 percent to 18,105 units.
• Exports fell 28 percent to 873 units.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. erased gains and fell as much as 0.74 percent to Rs 641.

SML Isuzu Ltd.’s sales rose by nearly 33 percent year-on-year to 1,282 units in February, the busmaker said in a stock exchange notification.

Shares of the company surged nearly 16 percent intraday to Rs 656.45 apiece after the sales announcement.

Shares of the truck and bus maker erased gains and fell as much as 2.4 percent to Rs 84.40. Ashok Leyland’s sales were flat at 18,245 units in February, according to its stock exchange filing.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic medium and heavy commercial truck sales fell 4 percent to 11,117 units.
• Domestic medium and heavy commercial bus sales rose 16 percent to 1,504 units.
• Total domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales declined 2 percent to 12,621 units.
• Domestic light commercial vehicle sales rose 9 percent to 4,731 units.
• Total domestic vehicle sales rose 1 percent to 17,352 units.

Sales Including Exports (YoY)

• Total medium and heavy commercial truck sales fell 4 percent to 11,536 units.
• Total medium and heavy commercial bus sales were flat at 1,755 units.
• Total medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales fell 3 percent to 13,291 units.
• Total light commercial vehicle sales rose 11 percent to 4,954 units.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki India ltd. traded 0.6 percent higher at 6,780.65 after rising 1.4 percent intraday.

The company sold 1.48 lakh units last month, a decline of 0.8 percent from the year-ago period, India’s largest carmaker said in an exchange filing.

Key Sales highlights (YoY)

• Sales of mini segment fell 26.7 percent to 24,751 units.
• Sales of compact segment rose 11.4 percent to 72,678 units.
• Sales of Ciaz fell 37 percent to 3,084 units.
• Sales of utility vehicles rose 7.4 percent to 21,834 units.
• Sales of Vans rose 17.2 percent to 14,565 units.
• Sales of Super Carry rose 74.8 percent to 2,188 units.
• Total domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 0.2 percent to 1.36 lakh units.
• Total domestic sales rose 0.9 percent to 1.39 lakh units.
• Total exports slumped 19.6 percent to 9,582 units.

The sales of new WagonR are reported under compact segment and the the sales number of old discontinued WagonR are however, reported in the mini sub-segment effective February 2019, the company said.

Bajaj Auto Ltd.’s monthly sales rose at its slowest pace in over a year.

The company sold 3.93 lakh units last month, an increase of 10 percent from February 2018, the Pune-based automaker said in an exchange filing. The sales growth was the slowest since October 2017.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic motorcycle sales rose 6 percent to 1.86 lakh units.
• Motorcycle exports rose 16 percent to 1.41 lakh units.
• Total motorcycle sales rose 10 percent 3.27 lakh units.
• Domestic commercial vehicles sales declined 9 percent to 35,183 units.
• Commercial vehicles’ exports jumped 37 percent to 29,921 units.
• Total commercial vehicle sales rose 8 percent to 65,104 units.
• Total domestic sales rose 4 percent to 2.21 lakh units.
• Total exports rose 19 percent to 1.71 lakh units.

Shares of Bajaj Auto rose as much as 1.5 percent to Rs 2,943 after falling 0.8 percent as the company reported its sales data for February.

Escorts Ltd. sold 7,240 tractors last month, an increase of 12 percent from the year-ago period, according to its exchange filing.

Key Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic sales rose 9.9 percent to 6,918 units.
• Export sales shot up 92.8 percent to 322 units.

Automakers’ sales will remain muted in February because of weak demand from consumers and inventory stuck with dealers, according to a BloombergQuint poll of analysts. (Click here to read more)

“Inventory levels remain elevated for two-wheeler companies which would keep their wholesales muted.” said Kapil Singh, research analyst at Nomura in an interaction to BloombergQuint. Meanwhile, on the passenger vehicle front, new launches like Maruti Wagon R, Tata Harrier, and M&Ms XUV300 are likely to aid volumes in February and in months ahead, the brokerage firm said in a report.