Automobile Sales Numbers Present a Mixed Picture for Sep-21

It was a tale of two stories for the auto sector sales in the month of September. Despite the upcoming festive season, the chip shortage has hit the sales numbers of most of the large passenger car companies. Smaller passenger car companies were better off, showing growth. Among other auto players, tractors and heavy commercial vehicles had a weak month while two wheelers remained under pressure. Here is the story.

Let us look at the large passenger vehicle manufacturers. Maruti Suzuki reported -54.91% lower Sep-21 passenger vehicle sales at 68,815 units. The other major player, Hyundai India, saw -23.6% fall in total vehicle sales for the month to 45,791 units while domestic sales in particular were down -34.2% at 33,087 units. Microchip shortages hit them hard.

Tractor sales remained under pressure due to delay in Rabi season sowing and an erratic Kharif cropping pattern. For the month of September 2021, Mahindra & Mahindra reported -7% fall in tractor sales to 40,331 units. The Nanda group owned Escorts reported -25.6% fall in tractor and farm equipment sales at 8,816 units in Sep-21.

Among the two-wheeler manufacturers, Bajaj Auto reported -16% fall in domestic sales and a -9% fall in overall sales, largely on the strength of better export performance. While domestic sales of two-wheelers stood at 192,348 units, overall sales for the month of September stood at 402,021 units. Exports continue to be the saving grace for Bajaj Auto.

Among the HCV and MCV manufacturers; both Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland put up a good show in September. Tata Motors reported 55% growth in overall global sales, largely driven by JLR thrust. However, even overall domestic sales were up 26% at 55,988 units. Ashok Leyland reported overall growth of 12% in total vehicle sales. However, sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) were up 39% in Sep-21.

Among the passenger car manufacturers, smaller players were not hit too hard by the chip shortage and managed to grow September sales. For Sep-21, MG Motors reported 28% growth in sales, Toyota grew sales by 14%, Skoda grew sales by 131% and Nissan grew sales nearly 3-fold. In all these cases, the growth was on a very small base.