Indian auto major Tata Motors reported a drop of 25 per cent in domestic sales at 38,057 units in November 2019. The automaker saw a sharp decline in volumes for passenger and commercial vehicles when compared to the 50,470 units sold during the same month last year. The automaker witnesses a constant decline in volumes despite a positive festive season, even as the auto sector has shown signs of recovery over the past month. In the passenger vehicle segment, Tata's volumes dropped to 10,400 units in November this year, a drop of 39 per cent over 16,982 units that were sold in November last year.
Speaking about the domestic sales for November, Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors said, "After an encouraging festival period, in November, industry declined sharply. In addition, industry is also preparing for the BS6 transition. In line with our strategy to focus on retails, we have further enhanced our network coverage. Our retail sales were more than wholesales by 15 per cent, which has helped us to reduce the network stock by 35 per cent in this fiscal. We will continue with these steps that make our network agile and profitable. We are ready for the transition to BS6 with enhanced models in both petrol and diesel options and have a slew of exciting new product launches in the coming months like Nexon EV, Altroz and Gravitas. These, along with the demand for the limited number of remaining BS4 diesel vehicles, coupled with an expected gradual improvement in consumer sentiment should help step-change our growth trajectory in the coming months"
In the commercial vehicle segment, Tata's domestic sales declined by 17 per cent at 27,657 units last month, as against 33,488 units sold during the same month last year. The M&HCV segment saw a 38 per cent decline in sales with 6050 units sold in November this year, while the LCV segment dropped by 11 per cent at 3611 units, over 4071 units sold in November 2018. The SCV and pick-up segment also witnessed a drop of three per cent with 15,787 units sold last month over 16,205 units sold in November last year. The passenger carrier segment saw the largest drop for Tata Motors in the CV space with a decline of 35 per cent at 2209 units over 3419 units sold in the same month last year. Tata's CV exports dropped by 34 per cent at 2931 units in November 2019, over 4469 units shipped in November last year.
According to Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors said, "As we move closer towards BS6 transition, the focus continues to be a gradual stock reduction, with the retail sale in November being higher than wholesale by over 10 per cent. Medium and Heavy Commercial vehicle sales grew by 23.6 per cent over the previous month, as enquiries continue to increase gradually, with fleet owners realizing the economic benefits of replacement of their older vehicles. Overall system stocks being at a multi-quarter low, coupled with increasing enquiries for replacement demand, will help firm-up volumes and realisations in the next few months."
The task for most carmakers from hereon will be to exhaust the BS4 stocks as manufacturers transition to BS6 norms. Meanwhile, Tata is gearing up to introduce a slew of products in the coming months including the Altroz premium hatchback, Gravitas SUV and the Nexon EV. The company also has a micro SUV as well as the Tiago and Tigor facelifts in the pipeline.
