May 2017 Car Sales: Automakers Register Positive Growth

The month of May 2017 has been pretty average for four-wheeler sales. For example, Mahindra had a positive growth of merely 3 per cent. Ford too had a positive growth of 16.6 per cent while India's biggest four-wheeler manufacturer Maruti Suzuki registered a growth of 15.5 per cent. The thing to look out for is the sales numbers rather than the percentage growth figures. Maruti Suzuki in fact registered a de-growth of 9.56 per cent when the domestic sales numbers for May 2017 were compared to the numbers for April 2017. It remains to be seen how the other car manufacturers fare.

Mahindra & Mahindra:

(2017 Mahindra XUV500)

The company sold a total of 41,895 units for the month of May 2017 as compared to 40,656 units in May 2016. This signifies a growth of a mere 3 per cent in the numbers. The total sale of Mahindra passenger cars was 20,290 units in May 2017 as compared to 19,635 units in May 2016 registering a growth of 3 per cent, again. Mahindra sold 40,602 vehicles within the country for May 2017 as against 36,613 units sold in May 2016, showing a growth of 11 per cent. These include the sales figures of passenger and commercial vehicles as well. The total exports for May 2017 stand at 1,293 units which make for a massive drop of 68 per cent when compared to the export numbers for May 2016, which stood at 4,043 units.

As usual, the biggest contributor to passenger vehicle sales were the utility vehicles, which constituted of 19,931 units from the 20,290 units mentioned earlier, for the month of May 2017. The rest were cars and vans whose unit sales numbered 959. The sales numbers of passenger vehicles indicate a growth of 4 per cent over the figures of May 2016, which were 18,648 units.

Coming to commercial vehicles and three wheelers, Mahindra and Mahindra sold a total of 16,255 units of CVs and 4,057 units if three-wheelers. The company sold 15,817 units of light commercial vehicles and 438 units of medium and heavy commercial vehicles.

Ford India:

(Ford Endeavour)

Ford India too had a decent showing in May 2017 with the total sales of 23,503 units. The surprising fact here is that out of the said number, 16,761 units constituted of exports as compared to 11,499 units exported in May 2016, showing a growth of 45 per cent. The company sold only 6,742 units for the month of May 2017 domestically, as compared to 5,780 units in May 2016. The indicated growth is 16.64 per cent. "Midst uncertainties caused in the wake of the final notification on GST, Ford has continued to grow faster than the industry," said Anurag Mehrotra, Ford India's newly appointed Managing Director. "We remain committed to building a sustainable and profitable business in India by delivering on our four strategic pillars of Strong Brand, Right Products, Competitive Cost and Effective Scale."

Honda Car India:

(2017 Honda City facelift)

May 2017 has been a decent month for Honda Cars India as well. The company sold a total of 11,278 units in May 2017 as compared to 9,954 units sold in May 2016, registering a growth of 13.3 per cent. The growth was primarily fuelled by the demand of the Honda City, which continues to be the best-selling car for the company and the Honda WR-V, the company's latest product offering. Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd. said "We are happy to have achieved positive growth in May sales. We continue to receive strong demand for New City and Honda WR-V. The government's plan for timely rollout of GST & a better monsoon forecast will aid in sales growth in coming months." The company also exported a total of 498 units for the month of May 2017.