MUMBAI: Leading automaker Tata Motors BSE -2.52 % today said its group sales grew 21 per cent in October while car sales posted the highest sales in four years with a growth of 28 per cent on strong festive demand.

Total sales (passenger and commercial vehicles), including exports, rose to 52,813 units in October, posting a growth of 21 per cent, over 43,486 vehicles sold in the same month last year.

The hatchback Tiago, which was launched in April, continues to be the volume driver, with retail showing a firm pick-up, the company said, adding that commercial vehicle sales recorded 15 per cent growth to 30,169 units, the highest this year.

Passenger vehicle business president Mayank Pareek attributed the strong numbers to festive demand, which helped the company record the highest sales in the past four years with a growth of 28 per cent in October.

"While we have been growing month-on-month, the festive season has further ushered in strong growth impetus for us. The Tiago continued to receive strong response and the Zest retails were highest since launch. All our other models also saw better traction," Pareek said.

Commercial vehicles (MCHV) sales grew 9 per cent after four months of negative growth while LCVs continued the upward trend with a growth of 21 per cent following bullish festive demand.

Exports jumped 39 per cent led by solid demand for commercial vehicles.

While total domestic sales jumped 19 per cent to 46,480 units, the same for the first seven months rose 9 per cent to 3,11,629 units.

The company continued to witness year-on-year growth in certain key segments, with its car sales growing the best in four years by 28 per cent, while CV sales recorded the highest this year, growing 15 per cent, and LCVs grew at 21 per cent on strong demand in the festive season.

Domestic passenger vehicles sales saw the highest numbers in four years at 16,311 units, compared with 12,747 units last October. The uptick was driven primarily by the continuing momentum for the Tiago.

Its exports rose to 6,333 units, up 39 per cent from 4,569 in October 2015. So far this fiscal, cumulative exports stood at 37,802 units, up 15 per cent from 32,770.

Source :  Tata Motors posts strongest car sales in four years at 28%

Always billed as the blockbuster period for automobile sales, the Dussehra-Diwali spread has been no less exciting this time too. But it seems the country's number two carmaker has pipped the leader on capitalising on it. Cumulative sales at Hyundai went up 4.3% to 63,372 units. And if you discount exports, even domestic sales have established a new all-time high record - a year-on-year growth of 6.4%. Hyundai saw its sales drivers - Creta, i20 and Grand i10 continue to perform, while even the new Elantra has contributed better than expected bookings since its launch at the end of August. 

By contrast market leader Maruti Suzuki registered a growth of just 2.2% year-on-year in the domestic market by selling 1.23 lakh units as against 1.21 lakh units in October 2015. The utes dominated that growth, with the Vitara Brezza, S-Cross, and Ertiga selling over 18,000 units. But there has been a sharp drop of almost 10% in Maruti's bread and butter segment of compact hatchbacks - with sales of the Alto and WagonR declining to 33,929 units (37,595 units in October 2015). Even the more premium compacts - Baleno, Celerio, Swift and Swift Dzire saw a marginal dip of 1.8% to 50,116 units. It was the Baleno that shored up the numbers even as the ageing Swift lost sales to it and the Vitara Brezza. The taxi segment Dzire Tour model also saw a massive drop in volume at 2481 units - a staggering 27.4% fall.

It has been a strong festive sales season as expected. And the momentum should carry on through to the year-end says Abdul Majeed, Partner at Price Waterhouse, "Passenger car sales continue to grow. This is backed by positive customer sentiments and better in hand cash flows to support their discretionary spends. Overall we should see good growth this year in all the vehicle categories."

Two other new models have also helped their respective brands come back from the brink - the Tata Tiago and Volkswagen Ameo. The German carmaker had launched the petrol Ameo in June while the diesel model had only arrived at the very of September. Sales in October were up 70% at 5534 units, as compared to 3255 units in the corresponding month last year. VW expects the growth trend to continue. VW will launch the Polo GTI, Passat GT plugin hybrid and the Tiguan over the next few months.

Meanwhile Tata Motors is continuing to see a smart bounceback thanks to the Tiago. Overall sales in October stood at 52,813 units - up 21%. But it was the passenger car division that led the growth clocking its highest sales in the last four years at 16,311 units - that's a smart growth of 28%. So far this fiscal, passenger vehicles have registered a 15% uptick at Tata, by selling 88,976 units in April-October 2016 as compared to 77,465 units in the same period last year. The company's Commercial Vehicles business also recorded its highest-ever monthly sales at 30,169 units, up 15%.

The Datsun redi-GO also continues to aid Nissan's growth in India that reported a growth of over 88% in domestic sales.

Source : Diwali Brightens Auto Sales In October; Hyundai Outperforms Maruti

VADODARA: Premium two-wheeler player DSK Motowheels will launch a 135-cc minibike by March 2017 to tap the volume market, a senior company official said on Thursday.

DSK Benelli Chairman Shirish Kulkarni said the proposed bike may cost Rs 1.3-Rs 1.5 lakh.

"We are busy completing the formalities, including trial, before commercially launching a 135-cc minibike by March next," he said speaking after opening DSK Benelli's first showroom here.

The company, which has a collaboration with Italy's superbike maker Benelli, has a Rs 350-crore manufacturing facility at Talegaon near Pune with an installed capacity of 50,000 units per annum.

The company, which started selling Benelli bikes earlier this year, aims to sell around 3,000 motorcycles this year. It also aims to sell around 2,500 Hyosung bikes during the period.

It currently sells five Hyosung superbikes, ranging between 250cc and 700cc, priced between Rs 2.84 lakh and Rs 5.99 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi.

"Together, we plan to sell around 5,500 bikes this year. The imported superbikes market is estimated to grow to around 15,000-20,000 units this year," Kulkarni said.

It also sells seven Benelli models, including TNT 25, a 300 cc bike, two 600 cc models, one 899 cc bike TNT R and TNT R Gold, priced between Rs. 1.84 lakh and Rs. 12.86 lakh.

The company aims to have around 30 dealerships by March, up from 21 outlets now.

On capex, he said the company plans to invest over Rs 100 crore in the next five years for expansion of plant as "we target to capture 60 per cent of the superbikes market in the country".

DSK Motowheels and DSK Benelli are part of diversified conglomerate DSK Group, which has presence in business verticals such as construction, auto, IT, education, pharma, hospitality, tours & travels and digital products, among others. 

Source : DSK Motowheels to launch 135-cc bike by March 2017

KOLKATA: Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India on Wednesday inaugurated its 900th Honda Authorised Exclusive Dealership taking its total dealership network to 4,800 spread across the country. The company plans to further increase its network by adding 500 more touch points, totalling the number to 5,300 before this financial year end. The move is part of Honda’s vision to expand its footprint across the country.

Over the last five years, Honda has been aggressively expanding its network foothold in the hinterland. This fiscal witnessed an addition of more than 300 touch points, 80 per cent of which has been exclusively in the rural and semi urban locations only. 

Elaborating on the expansion plans, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India senior vice president, sales & marketing Yadvinder Singh Guleria said: "We have grown exponentially in the last 15 years of existence in India, in terms of sales, penetration in smaller towns is a critical part of our India strategy.

" He further added, "along with rapid capacity expansion, introduction of new products across categories and strengthening our network in the metro and urban locations, we are now focusing on increasing our foothold in the semi urban and rural areas. Honda is now extending its reach to the last mile with 80 per cent of the touch points added this financial year being only in the semi urban and rural locations. We are confident that our growing network will cater to the increasing demand for Honda 2Wheelers and realise higher customer satisfaction in terms of services provided by Honda network." 

Having witnessed phenomenal growth in customer demand over the years, Honda has strengthened its position in the Indian two-wheeler industry. The company continues to ramp up its dealership network, production capacity, while offering the best quality products and experience to its customers. 

Source :  Honda strengthens its dealership network in India

NEW DELHI: Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd (MFCWL) today announced the launch of a platform that allows buyers to participate in traditional 'on the ground' used-car auctions via internet in real-time.

The platform, True Time Bids will significantly improve efficiency of how vehicle auctions are conducted in India today, the company said in a statement.

MFCWL ran a pilot project of True Time Bids with Kotak Bank BSE -0.14 % prior to its launch.

 MFCWL Senior Vice President of eBusiness B Ganeshkumar said: "The pilot launch of Truetimebids.com with Kotak has been extremely successful and we look forward to taking this platform to all our clients over the next few weeks."

Stating that the platform will fundamentally change the way vehicles are disposed at auctions, he added: "Our clients are continuously looking for higher liquidity and more efficiency in our auction services, and we are pleased to develop and launch India's first simultaneous online-offline auction platform."

Typically, vehicle auctions are conducted offline while some are also done online to attract non-local bidders. The truetimebids.com platform combines both auction formats into one simultaneous auction event. 

The launch of True Time Bids is a part of Mahindra First Choice Wheels' overall aim to organise the used-car space in India and bring legitimacy and transparency to the market, the company added. 

Source : Mahindra launches new platform for vehicle auction