Car Sales: Automakes End The FY 2017-18 With Positive Growth

The 2017-18 financial year has come to a close and while the year started off with some positives like the introduction of BS IV fuel as also the introduction of GST in the country. The auto industry had to deal with a lot of issues including the rise in the cess rates and even the tax on CKD units. However, the automotive industry in India has been growing at a steady pace and yes, most of the carmakers have shown a robust growth in sales mostly because of the new cars that were launched in the market and the consumer's positive response to them. Here's a look at the sales registered by carmakers in March 2018 as also the finanacial year of 2017-18.

Tata Motors

The Tata Nexon marked the company's entry into the subcompact SUV segment in India

In March 2018, Tata Motors registered a growth of 35 per cent at 69,440 units as against 51,309 units over last year due to the continued strong sales performance of its Commercial and Passenger Vehicles Business in the domestic market. The cumulative domestic sales performance of the Commercial and Passenger Vehicles business for the financial year 2018 was 586,639 units compared to 478,362 units, a growth of 23 per cent over the FY 2017-18

Tata Motors' Commercial Vehicles domestic sales in March 2018 were at 49,174 units, an increase of 37 per cent compared to 35,876 units in March 2017. The company's passenger vehicles sales performance stood at 20,266 units as against 15,433 units which was a growth of 31 per cent over last year. This was on the back of increasing demand of Tiago and Tigor along with Nexon and Hexa gaining traction in the steadily growing UV Segment. The Passenger Car segment declined by 4% while the UV segment grew by 223% clearly showing a trend of growing customer base for the UV segment. Cumulative sales growth of Passenger Vehicles in the domestic market (April 2017-March 2018) was at 187,321 units compared to 153,151 units, a growth of 22 per cent over last year.

The company's sales from exports in March 2018 was at 6,443 units, a growth of 17 per cent over last year.

Maruti Suzuki

The new generation of the Maruti Suzuki Swift was launched in February 2018

Maruti Suzuki India Limited sold 160,598 units in March 2018. This includes 148,582 units in the domestic market and 12,016 units in exports. The Company had sold a total of 139,763 units in March 2017. With this, the Company ended 2017-18 with its highest ever total sales of 1,779,574 units, a growth of 13.4 per cent. This comprises highest ever domestic sales of 1,653,500 units. The export sales were 126,074 units. The growth has been a substantial one, year-on-year and in the domestic market it self the company registered a 14.5 per cent growth. This is all thanks to the launch of teo new-generation cars by the company, the Maruti Suzuki Dzire and the Swift.

Hyundai Motor India

Hyundai Motor India sold 5,36,241 vehicles in FY 2017-18 compared to 5,09,707 units in 2016-17 registering a growth of 5.2 per cent. For the month of March 2018, Hyundai registered domestic sales of 48,009 units and exports of 12,498 units with cumulative sales of 60,507 units.

Hyundai launched the new i20 facelift at the Auto Expo 2018

Commenting on the financial year closing, Mr. YK Koo, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. said, "With strong commitment to add Brilliant Moments to the lives of our customers through our Modern Premium product offerings and Next Level Customer Service Experience, have closed the financial year 2017-18 on a positive note with a growth of 5.2 per cent and highest domestic volume of 5,36,241 units meeting our customer aspirations."

Mahindra and Mahindra

Mahindra's passenger vehicle sales also went up by 4 per cent

Mahindra and Mahindra has announced a sales growth of 10 per cent for the last month of the 2017-18 financial year. In March 2018, the company registered total sales of 62,077 vehicles, against the 56,202 vehicles sold during March 2017. The Utility Vehicle (UV) maker saw a similar 10 per cent growth in the domestic market as well, with sales of 58,653 vehicles, compared to the 58,653 units sold during the same month last year. Exports, on the other hand, saw the biggest leap last month, with 3,424 units, registering a growth of 26 per cent, against the 2,709 vehicles exported in March 2017.

Passenger vehicle sales also went up by 4 per cent, with the company selling 26,555 units in March 2018, compared to the 25,523 units sold in March 2017. In Q4 (between January and March 2018) the company's UV sales stood at 67,805 units.