Car Sales October 2019: Tata Motors' Sales Drop 34% Despite A Positive Festive Month

Tata Motors has released the sales numbers for October 2019, during which the company's total sales stood at 41,354 units, including both domestic and export markets, registering a decline of 33.5 per cent. In comparison, the company's cumulative sales for October 2018 stood at 62,264 vehicles. Domestic sales were equally disastrous with the company selling only 39,152 units, as compared to the 57,710 vehicles sold in October 2018, registering a de-growth of 32 per cent. This is surprising considering October this year was the Diwali month, unlike last year when it fell in November, during which the company's total sales stood at 50,470 units.

Tata Motors' passenger vehicle sales also declined by 28 per cent in October 2019, to 13,169 units, compared to the 18,290 vehicles sold during the same month in 2018. Commenting on this, Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, "In line with our New Paradigm, focus was on retail. Results have been encouraging with retails at 36 per cent more than wholesale. Customer response was positive to festive offers and our new product launches like Harrier Dark edition and Nexon Kraz+. In October retail sales were the highest in this fiscal recording a 70 per cent increase month-on-month."

Tata claims that customer response was positive to festive offers and new products like Harrier Dark edition and Nexon Kraz+

On the other hand, in the commercial vehicle space, the company's total sales stood at 28,002 units, a decline of 36 per cent compared to the 43,813 CVs sold during the same month last year. Commenting on the company performance in the CV space, Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, had a similar answer like Pareek - "With our continued focus on retail acceleration, retails in October were 24 per cent ahead of wholesale. Additionally, wholesales improved by 7 per cent over September. The enquiries have increased compared to last month in M&HCV and I&LCV, with fleet owners initiating discussions for replacement of older vehicles. We will continue our focus on system stock reduction as we prepare for the BS6 transition. Overall system stock is now at a multi-quarter low, which coupled with increasing enquiries, and the government's thrust on infrastructure investments will help firm-up volumes and realisations in the coming months."

However, what came as a relief for Tata Motors was that the company's network stock has been reduced by 38 per cent during this fiscal year, and the October end network stock was the lowest in last 2 years. Pareek says that this will help Tata Motors' sales network to be prepared for a smooth BS6 transition. He also said, "Our endeavour is to enhance the retail capability by continuously adding new sales outlets and executives. We remain optimistic that the positive sentiments of the festive season will lead to a structural recovery in the market."