April Auto Sales: Hero MotoCorp Sales Fall Over 17%

Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorps sold 5,74,366 units in April 2019— which is 17.2 percent lower than the year-ago period. The company sold 6,94,022 units in April 2018.

The company said in an exchange filing that despite challenging market conditions, it registered over 78 lakh unit sales in financial year 2019.

Tata Motors Ltd. sold 42,577 units last month, a fall of 20 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 witnessed sluggish sales in medium and heavy trucks due to low demand as a result of the revised axle load norms. The postponement of demand due to general elections have also impacted CV sales, the statement said.

Key Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic passenger vehicle sales fell 26 percent to 12,694 units.
• Domestic commercial vehicle sales down 18 percent to 29,883 units.
• Domestic medium and heavy commercial truck sales fell 33 percent to 9,403 units.
• Exports down 53 percent to 1,402 units due to inventory pile up in Bangladesh, security concerns in Sri Lanka and slump in Middle East automotive market, the filing said.

SML Isuzu Ltd.’s sales rose by 20.1 percent year-on-year to 1,379 units in April, the busmaker said in a stock exchange notification.

Shares of the company surged nearly 3.8 percent intraday to Rs 821.95 apiece after the sales announcement.

TVS Motor Company Ltd. sold 3.18 lakh units last month an increase of 5 percent from April 2018, the Chennai-based company said in a stock exchange filing.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Two-wheeler sales rose 4 percent to 3.05 lakh units.
• Domestic two-wheeler sales rose 3 percent to 2.48 lakh units.
• Scooter sales rose 9 percent to 97,323 units.
• Motorcycle sales rose 9 percent to 1.43 lakh units.
• Three-wheeler sales rose 15 percent to 13,104 units.
• Two-wheeler exports rose 11 percent to 57,377 units.
• Overall exports rose 13 percent to 69,565 units.

Shares of TVS Motor recovered from day’s low. The stock traded 2.9 percent lower at Rs 477.65 after the sales announcement. It fell 8.2 percent intraday.

Ashok Leyland’s sales rose 7 percent to 13,626 units in April, according to its stock exchange filing.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic medium and heavy commercial truck sales rose 7 percent to 7,517 units.
• Domestic medium and heavy commercial bus sales rose 13 percent to 1,401 units.
• Total domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales rose 8 percent to 8,918 units.
• Domestic light commercial vehicle sales rose 14 percent to 4,223 units.
• Total domestic vehicle sales rose 10 percent to 13,141 units.

Sales Including Exports (YoY)

• Total medium and heavy commercial truck sales rose 2 percent to 7,645 units.
• Total medium and heavy commercial bus sales rose 17 percent to 1,701 units.
• Total medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales rose 4 percent to 9,346 units.
• Total light commercial vehicle sales rose 15 percent to 4,280 units.

The shares pared opening losses and gained 4.1 percent intraday to Rs 90.50 apiece.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.'s auto sales fell 9 percent to 43,721 units in the month of April, due to subdued purchases of vehicles in the election season.

"The ongoing elections has subdued the purchase sentiment during April. This, according to us, is a temporary phenomenon," said Rajan Wadhera, president of M&M's automotive sector in press statement.

"We believe, following the elections the auto industry will see a revival in consumer demand. Supported by a normal monsoon, we are confident of seeing higher sales in FY20."

Key Highlights (YoY):

• Passenger vehicle sales fell 9 percent to 19,966 units
• Utility vehicles sales fell 7 percent to 18,848 units
• Sales of cars and vans fell 28 percent to 1,118 units
• Commercial vehicle sales fell 9 percent to 17,321 units
• Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales fell 48 percent to 474 units
• Total domestic sales fell 8 percent to 41,603 units
• Total exports fell 26 percent to 2,118 units

Shares of M&M reversed opening losses and rose as much as 2.4 percent to Rs 660.70 after the sales announcement.

Bajaj Auto Ltd.'s total sales rose a meagre 2 percent to 4.23 lakh vehicles in the month of April, despite achieving their highest ever sales in exports.

That's primarily because of a 13 percent drop in commercial vehicle sales to 57,047 units, the company's exchange filing showed. The segment's sales within the country fell 9 percent to 26,229 vehicles while those exported fell 16 percent to 30,818.

Key Sales Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic motorcycle sales rose 3 percent to 2.06 lakh units.
• Motorcycle exports rose 8 percent to 1.60 lakh units.
• Total motorcycle sales rose 5 percent 3.66 lakh units.
• Domestic commercial vehicles sales declined 9 percent to 26,229 units.
• Commercial vehicles’ exports fell 16 percent to 30,818 units.
• Total commercial vehicle sales fell 13 percent to 57,047 units.
• Total domestic sales rose 1 percent to 2.32 lakh units.
• Total exports rose 3 percent to 1.91 lakh units.

Shares reversed opening losses and gained as much as 1.3 percent to Rs 3,022.10 per share.

The maker of Royal Enfield motorcycles reported a 17 percent dip in sales on a yearly basis to 62,879 units in April. Sales of models with engine capacity up to 350cc fell 21 percent to 55,522 units while the sales of models with engine capacity exceeding 350cc grew 21 percent to 7,537 units.

• The company exported 3,742 units last month— a 140 percent rise from the year-ago period.
• The company also said that its manufacturing facilities at Oragadam and Vallam Vadagal in Tamil Nadu underwent scheduled maintenance activity between April 22-30 and have resumed normal operations from May 1.

Eicher Motors Ltd.’s VE Commercial Vehicles’ sales stood at 3,961 units compared to 3,960 units sold in the same period last year, according to its stock exchange filing.

Escorts Ltd. sold 5,264 tractors last month, a fall of 14.9 percent from the year-ago period, according to its exchange filing.

Key Highlights (YoY)

• Domestic sales decline 18.2 percent to 4,986 units.
• Export sales jumped three-fold to 278 units.

The company sold 1.43 lakh units last month, a decline of 17.2 percent from the year-ago period, India’s largest carmaker said in an exchange filing.

Key Sales highlights (YoY)

• Sales of mini segment fell 39.8 percent to 22,766 units.
• Sales of compact segment fell 13.9 percent to 72,146 units.
• Sales of Ciaz fell 45.5 percent to 2,789 units.
• Sales of utility vehicles rose 5.9 percent to 22,035 units.
• Sales of vans fell 26.7 percent to 11,649 units.
• Sales of Super Carry rose 50.2 percent to 2,319 units.
• Sales to original equipment manufacturers stood at 364 units.
• Total domestic passenger vehicle sales fell 19.6 percent to 1.31 lakh units.
• Total domestic sales* declined 18.7 percent to 1.34 lakh units.
• Total exports rose 14.6 percent to 9,177 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.
* Effective April 2019, sales to other OEMs have commenced and are reported as ‘Sales to other OEM’. Total domestic sales and total sales includes this figure.

Auto sales are expected to decline in the seasonally strong April due to multiple factors including tepid demand, according to a BloombergQuint survey of seven dealers across India. (read more here)

“Sales have seen a pickup over the last month but continue to lag on a year-on-year basis,” said Nikunj Sanghi, managing director at JS Fourwheel Motors Pvt. Ltd.

Nomura, too, expects a sharp decline in April sales for auto companies largely due to pressure on growth due to higher inventory levels, a higher base last year and weak demand sentiment.