Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Sales Grow By 27% In May 2017

It was a mixed sales report for Tata Motors as the Indian auto giant recorded positive sales for its passenger vehicles, but its overall volumes dropped by 4 per cent to 38,361 vehicles in May 2017. Tata's domestic sales for commercial and passenger vehicles stood at 34,461 units, down by 3 per cent over 35,695 units sold in May 2016.

Backed by its new launches, Tata Motors had a positive turnaround in the Passenger Vehicle space in the domestic market. The company recorded sales at 10,855 units, a growth of 27 per cent in May 2017, thanks to the strong demand for the Tata Tiago, Tigor and the Tata Hexa.

Tata's passenger vehicle segment has received a major push thanks to the new launches

Meanwhile, the Commercial Vehicle space saw a major drop in volumes for the manufacturer. Tata sold 23,606 vehicles in the domestic market last month, down by 13 per cent over May 2016. While there have been early signs of retail for BS-IV vehicles, the market still looks weak for CVs, the company said in a statement.

Citing reasons for poor sales in the CV sector, Tata Motors said that there was a global supply constraint of fuel injector pumps for BS-IV engines. The company sold 6522 units of the M&HCV trucks in May this year, a hefty drop of 40 per cent over the same period last year. Similarly, ILCV trucks were at 2368 units, down by 12 per cent over May 2016. Sales of the ILCV trucks were impact by late supply of fuel injector systems. Nevertheless, supply of the injector systems is expected to stabilise by July 2017.

The BS-IV compliant Xenon Yodha helped the LCV segment to grow for Tata

Adding some respite, however, was the LCV for Tata Motors showing promising numbers. The company sold 10,572 units of its small cargo vehicles, a growth of 10 per cent of May 2016, and have been backed by the availability of BS-IV products like the Ace Mega and the Xenon Yodha.

Commenting on the sales performance, Tata Motors - President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Mayank Pareek said, "Tata Motors sales continues to grow on a positive course at the back of strong performance of the new generation cars like Tiago, Tigor and Hexa. However, the uncertainty and different interpretations of GST will impact the buying sentiment in Jun'17."

Tata Motors passenger commercial vehicles, inclusive of vehicles from all categories, continued to grow with a sale of 4144 units; a growth of 6 per cent in May 2017, over the corresponding period last year. The company exports stood at 3900 units last month, albeit with a decline of 12 per cent over May 2016. The increase in import tariffs in Sri Lank for SCVs and the drop in demand in Nepal were cited as reasons for the decline in exports.