Car industry adjusts wholesales in September. Maruti, Hyundai, Tata post decline

While Maruti, Hyundai and Tata recorded a decline in their domestic wholesales in September, Mahindra and Kia posted growth.

Amid rising inventory, the passenger vehicle (PV) segment witnessed a slight decline in domestic wholesales to 355,000-360,000 units in September 2024 from 364,000 units in the same month last year, as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) adjusted the despatches to dealerships.

Recent data from the industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) showed that the inventory level at dealerships was very high towards the end of August, with stock stretching to 70-75 days and inventory totalling almost 780,000 units, valued at an astounding Rs 77,800 crore.

The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India, which continued to recalibrate its inventory vis-a-vis retails, registered a drop of 3.88% year-on-year (y-o-y) in PV wholesales at 144,962 units in September.

"Our network stock is close to a month. Due to high retail in the festive season, we have to keep the stock level accordingly. We are seeing good traction in terms of bookings. Shradh had a booking growth of 5%," said Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India.

Banerjee said that the industry is expected to witness growth in October as two important festivals -- Dussehra and Diwali -- are falling in the same month.

Hyundai Motor India's PV volumes slipped 5.79% y-o-y at 51,101 units in September. The SUV models -- Exter, Venue, Creta, Alcazar and Tucson -- contributed 70% to the domestic wholesales of the company.

"We also witnessed increased consumer demand for CNG-powered vehicles, backed by the introduction of dual-cylinder CNG in the Exter and the Grand i10 Nios resulting in the highest-ever CNG contribution of 13.8% to September sales," said Tarun Garg, Whole-time Director and Chief Operating Officer, Hyundai Motor India.

"With the festive season kicking in, we have introduced many new models and variants to meet customers aspirations, and our dealer touchpoints are fully geared up to delight customers with deliveries of their favourite Hyundai cars in this auspicious period," he added.

Mahindra & Mahindra emerged as the third-largest carmaker in India in September in terms of volumes with wholesales of 51,062 units, logging in a growth of 23.74% y-o-y. This was the first time that the company crossed monthly PV volumes of 50,000 units.

"As we enter into the festivities of Navratri, we open bookings for the much-awaited Thar Roxx on October 3," said Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra.

While Tata Motors' domestic PV wholesales dipped 8.36% y-o-y at 41,063 units in September, those of Toyota Kirloskar Motor rose 7.37% y-o-y at 23,802 units during the month.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Managing Director Shailesh Chandra said that the industry off-take was significantly higher than registrations in Q2 FY25 in anticipation of a strong start to the festive season, resulting in a continued build-up of channel stock.

"Registrations picked up pace towards the end of the month, which augurs well for the festive period ahead, and we remain focused on driving up consumer preference for our exciting range of vehicles while maintaining the health of our dealer network," he added.

Source - Companies