Car Sales February 2017: Most Carmakers Register Positive Growth

We are the end of the 2017 Financial Year and if anything it has been quite an eventful year for the India auto sector. Right from the ban on diesel cars in Delhi to demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes, automakers in India have faced several challenges in this fiscal year. Despite that, many of them have seen consistent growth in the market and carmakers like - Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai India, Honda Cars India, Renault India and Nissan registered positive growth for the month of February 2017. On the other hand, SUV market leader Mahindra sees drop in sales last month. Here are the detailed sales figures.

Maruti Suzuki India:

The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, registered a cumulative growth of 10.9 per cent last month with total sales accounting for 130280 units. In comparison, the company sold 117451 vehicles during the same month in 2016. Sales in the domestic market, on the other hand, were far better as the company saw a growth of 11.7 per cent. The company sold 120735 in India in the month of February 2017, compared to the 108115 units sold in February 2016.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza

Interestingly, similar to last month's sales report, Maruti Suzuki saw a massive 110.5 per cent growth in the utility vehicle space, mainly because of the Vitara Brezza. What is to be noted here is the fact that the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza was not on sale in the Indian market up until March 2016, which sort of tells us why the huge surge in numbers. This also means that the growth figures will be a lot less in March.

As for the exports, the company registered a growth of 2.2 per cent by selling 9545 vehicles last month compared to the 9336 units exported in February 2016.

Hyundai India:

As for the country's second largest automaker, Hyundai Motor India announced total sales of 52,734 vehicles last month compared to the 49,729 units sold in February 2016, registering a year-on-year (YOY) growth of 6.0 per cent. Hyundai saw single-digit growth of 4.0 per cent in the domestic market as well. The company sold 42,327 in India in February 2017 compared to the 40,716 units sold during the same time last year. Last month Hyundai launched its top-selling hatchback model - the Hyundai Grand i10 facelift, which has also added to the increased sales.

Hyundai Grand i10 Facelift

Being the country's largest passenger car exporter, Hyundai's export sales saw a growth of 15.5 per cent with 10,407 vehicles being exported last month compared to the 9,013 units exported in February 2016.

Commenting on the company's sales performance, Rakesh Srivastava, Sr. VP - Sales & Marketing, Hyundai Motor India, said, "Hyundai with an all-time highest ever sales of 9,002 units of The Perfect SUV- CRETA had a domestic all models volume of 42,327 with a growth of 4 per cent with increased customer visits and conversions on the strength of improved customer confidence generated by the Union Budget positively impacting the customer disposable income and overall business sentiments. With this Hyundai also continues its positive growth momentum month on month strengthening its brand trust within the customers."

Honda Cars India:

As for their Japanese rival Honda Cars India, the carmaker achieved a cumulative growth of 8.5 per cent with total sales for the month of February 2017 accounting for 14997 units compared to 13710 vehicles sold in February 2016. Sales in the domestic market registered a growth of 9.4 per cent with the company selling 14249 units in February 2017 against 13020 units in the corresponding month last year. Honda even launched the 2017 City facelift in India last month equipped with a host of new features and cosmetic updates. Exports on the other hand, also went up by 7.75 per cent with the company exporting 748 vehicles in February 2017 in comparison to the 690 units exported in February 2016.

2017 Honda City Facelift

Talking about the company's performance, Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, Honda Cars India said, "The market has shown positive sentiment during February and HCIL has also benefited from it. This month's sales growth has been driven by an excellent response to the New Honda City 2017, which has received over 10,000 bookings so far. We are thankful to our customers for their support to Honda and hope this momentum will continue."

Renault India:

Renault India which has been riding on the success of the Kwid small car for the past one year also registered an impressive growth of 26.8 per cent in February 2017. The company sold 11198 units last month against the 8834 units sold in February 2016. While the success of the Kwid has had a major hand the company's massive growth in the past one year the company has been contently updating its product portfolio to stay in the game. Last year alone we saw the launch of the Duster facelift, Kwid AMT and Kwid 1.0 litre variant.

Renault Kwid 1.0 Litre Variant

Furthermore, Renault is also substantially increasing its sales and network reach in India and successfully achieved its target of 270 dealership network nationwide at the end of 2016.

Nissan India:

Nissan India also registered a similar growth of 25 per cent with total sales. Domestic sales went up by almost 20 per cent with 4807 units in February 2017 against 3850 units sold the same month a year ago. The figures include the combined sales the Nissan and Datsun and the company attributes its recent growth to the Datsun redi-GO.

Datsun redi-GO

Commenting on the sales results, Arun Malhotra, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India, said, "Our strong sales performance in February maintains the Nissan Group's position as the second-fastest growing car brand in India so far this fiscal year. Our growth story has been driven by the continued success of Datsun redi-GO."

Mahindra and Mahindra:

The country's SUV market leader, Mahindra and Mahindra saw a marginal drop in cumulative sales last month, which stood at 42,714 vehicles as against the 44,002 units sold during February 2016, registering a drop of 3 per cent in year-on-year (YOY) sales. Sales in the domestic market did not see and growth either as the company saw to 2 per cent drop in sales with only 40414 units being sold in February 2017 compared to the 41348 units sold during the corresponding month last year. Exports took a big hit last month as the company numbers went down by 13 per cent as only 2300 units were exported in February 2017 against 2654 sold last year during the same month.

Pravin Shah with the KUV100 Anniversary Edition

Commenting on the company's performance, Pravin Shah, President & Chief Executive (Automotive), M&M said, "The auto industry is seeing some positive trends emerging over the last two months. With rural sentiments improving, we believe that there will be a turnaround in demand over the next few months for the small commercial vehicles space. The industry is also waiting for the implementation of the BS 4 norms from April 2017 and at Mahindra, we have geared the supply chain so that there is no strain in moving to meet the new emissions norms. We also hope that the impending implementation of GST will provide a veritable boost to the auto industry and the economy in general."