Maruti, Honda Cars, Mahindra report sales growth in February

Carmakers Maruti Suzuki India, Honda Cars, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors reported growth in sales last month on account of improvement in consumer sentiment as compared to January. While carmaker leader Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) saw marginal growth in February sales, Honda cars and Mahindra witnessed robust double-digit growth in domestic sales during the month. Tata Motors reported 2 per cent increase in passenger vehicle sales, while Toyota Kirloskar Motor saw sales dip marginally last month.

MSI reported sales of 1,39,100 units last month in the domestic market, a marginal growth from 1,37,900 units in February 2018. Mini segment cars, which includes models like Alto, witnessed sales of  24,751 units as compared to 33,789 units in February last year, down 26.7 per cent.

However, sales of compact segment, including models such as Wagon R, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, were up 11.4 per cent at 72,678 units as against 65,213 units in February last year, the company said. Sales of utility vehicles such as S-Cross, Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and Gypsy stood at 21,834 units as against 20,324 units in the year-ago period, a growth of 7.4 per cent, it added.

Similarly, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) reported a 16 per cent increase in its domestic sales to 13,527 units in February. It had sold 11,650 units in the domestic market in February 2018. "Our on-ground efforts and sustained sales momentum for models, specially the Amaze, City and WR-V has fuelled our growth in February," HCIL Senior VP and Director-Sales and Marketing Rajesh Goel said.

The overall market sentiment is not overtly buoyant at this stage, however, the company hopes the market will revive soon, he added. Utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) saw its domestic passenger vehicle sales grow by 17 per cent to 26,109 units as compared to 22,389 units in February 2018.

"The month of February has augured well for Mahindra. We have witnessed a strong double digit growth of 16 per cent in our UV portfolio, on the back of our newly launched XUV300 model," M&M President (Automotive Sector) Rajan Wadhera said. Tata Motors' sales increased in the domestic market by two per cent to 18,110 units last month, as against 17,771 units in the year-ago period.

"Despite the challenging environment last month, we witnessed a growth of two per cent, fuelled by the good performance of our new generation products," Tata Motors President Passenger Vehicles Business Unit Mayank Pareek said.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) sold a total of 11,760 units in the domestic market last month as compared to 11,864 units a year ago. "We have seen improvement in consumer sentiments as compared to last month leading to a growth in demand. However, the auto sales are witnessing a temporary slowdown in pre-election phase in addition to factors like tight liquidity condition impacting the buying behaviour," TKM Deputy Managing Director N Raja said.

In the two-wheeler segment, Bajaj Auto reported 4 per cent increase in February sales at 2,21,706 units as compared to 2,14,023 units in the year-ago period. TVS Motor company saw domestic two-wheeler sales increase marginally to 2,31,582 units last month from 2,30,353 in February 2018.