November 2016 was quite an eventful month for the Indian automotive sector. The announcement of demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 in the middle of the festive season did have a considerable impact on sales. While sales weren't as impressive as in October 2016, a lot of automakers did manage to see double digit growth.
Watch Siddharth explaining the impact of demonetisation on auto industry
Maruti Suzuki India
Now, there's been a lot said on the subject of demonetisation and its effects on the auto industry here. We've told you how car manufacturers were dealing with the situation too and it surely seems to have worked. Maruti Suzuki today reported a growth of 14.2 per cent in domestic sales last month. The company sold over 1.26 lakh units in November as compared to 1.10 lakh units sold in the same month last year. The star performers which have been driving sales are the Baleno and the Vitara Brezza.
The market leader also managed to register a growth of over 8 per cent in the Mini category which consists of the Alto and Wagon R whereas the compact segment dominated by the Baleno, Swift and Swift Dzire grew by 10.8 per cent. The company's exports, however, declined by 9.8 per cent as it managed to export 9,225 units in Nov 2016 as against 10,225 units in November 2015.
Toyota India
Toyota Kirloskar Motors reported sales of 11,309 units in the domestic market, registering a growth of 10 per cent when compared to the same period last year. The Innova Crysta seems to have made its mark in the market as the company has managed to sell more than 50000 units of the MPV. The latest car launched by Toyota was the Fortuner and it too shows a lot of promise as the company has already raked in 6200 bookings so far. The company also exported 1285 units of its sedan Etios in November.
Commenting on the sales results for November, Abdul Majeed, Partner, Price Waterhouse said, "Demonetisation will have significant negative impact atleast in the next two to three months across the board in the Automotive Sector especially two wheelers, SUV, luxury vehicles, commercial vehicles. What measures Government will take next to push the economic growth will be the key for automotive sector growth.November 2016 wholesale number will not reflect retail sales ground reality, OEM who are carrying waiting period for successful model will not be impacted significantly in the short term"
Volkswagen India
Meanwhile, German car manufacturer Volkswagen sold a total of 4014 units in November last month as compared to 1942 units sold in the corresponding month of the previous year. Its sub-compact sedan Ameo has been a attracting a lot of attention from car buyers introduction of ABS and dual airbags as a standard fitment across all Volkswagen cars has helped the company to keep that attention going.
Michael Mayer, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India said, "We have witnessed an encouraging growth with our November sales welcoming new members to the Volkswagen family. Earlier this year, we launched the Ameo and were positive that the vehicle would succeed in drawing car buyers' attention and it has lived up to our expectations."
Renault India
French auto major, Renault sold 9604 cars in November 2016 as against 7819 units in November 2015, registering a growth of 23 per cent. The automaker claims that its Kwid has crossed sales of 1.10 lakh units since the start of its sales in October 2015. Renault is also expanding its dealer network and aims to increase its reach to 270 outlets by the end of 2016. The cumulative sales figure for the period Jan-Nov stands at 1,20,991 units as against 43,555 units in the corresponding period last year, thereby registering a growth of 178 per cent.
Mahindra and Mahindra
As for utility market leader, Mahindra and Mahindra, the home-grown automaker saw a fall of 22 per cent with total sales accounting for 32499. Compared to this, last year during the same month the Mahindra registered a cumulative sale of 41590 units. The Passenger Vehicles segment (which includes UVs, Cars and Vans) sold 13,217 vehicles in November 2016 as against 19,662 vehicles during November 2015. The company's domestic sales stood at 29,814 vehicles during November 2016, as against 39,383 vehicles during November 2015, seeing a drop of 24 per cent.
Commenting on the auto sales performance for November 2016, Pravin Shah, President & Chief Executive (Automotive), M&M said, "While we expected an improved auto industry performance on the back of the festive season and other positive parameters such as rural demand and interest rates softening, the sudden announcement of demonetisation has brought in an immediate disruption and uncertainty. While it is a good and welcome step in the mid to long term, this has dampened overall sentiments leading to postponed buying thereby resulting in a major drop in volumes during November. This is significant as the automotive industry had just started experiencing stability post a long and tough period of uncertainty".
Hyundai Motor India
After launching 2 new cars and a good run this festive season, the Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has registered a sales of 40,016 units in the domestic market registering a growth of 4.4% in November 2016 as compared to the same month last year. The company also exported a total of 17,077 units.
Hyundai currently exports to around 92 countries across Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Australia and the Asia Pacific and has been India's leading exporter for the last 10 years consecutively.Hyundai Motor India currently has 472 dealers.
Honda Cars India
Honda cars has expressed some concerns on the on-going demonetisation drive. The company managed to sell 8,029 units and exported about 697 units last month. The company sold 14,712 units in November 2015 in the domestic market and the company sales have declined by about 45%.
Commenting on the sales performance, Mr. Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, "The November month saw major disruptions in the market due to the on-going effects of demonetisation and cash crunch. The consumer sentiment was low and footfalls and enquiries at the dealerships also slowed down during the month. We have taken several constructive steps to neutralize the impact of demonetisation, which includes squeezing the wholesale to avoid the stock piling up at the dealerships. We believe that the situation will normalise in the near future and our sales performance will improve accordingly."
