Tata Motors reported very strong auto sales for January, with passenger vehicle volumes up 55% and commercial vehicle sales up 38%.
A large chunk of the gain came from the sales of small commercial vehicles.
The company’s passenger vehicle sales in India were at 20,055 units for the month as against 12,907 units last year. In comparison, Maruti Suzuki reported an increase of just 4.8% in its sales in India, while Mahindra & Mahindra saw a 17% jump in passenger vehicle sales in India.
Tata Motors said the jump in passenger vehicle numbers was due to “increasing demand of Tiago and Tigor”. SUVs Nexon and Hexa are also gaining traction, it added.
Within passenger sales, the car segment registered a strong growth of 27% while the SUV segment grew by 188%.
For the financial year so far, total growth in passenger vehicles has now reached 15% to 149,284.
COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
Tata Motors, however, gets much more revenue from its commercial vehicle unit that sells trucks, buses and pick-ups.
This division sold 39,386 units, a growth of 38% compared to 28,521 units in January 2017.
However, 71% of the extra volumes came from increased sales in the small commercial vehicle segment.
Small cargo vehicle segment, which includes Ace, saw a growth of 75% to 17,948 in January, an increase of nearly 7,700 units.
Sales of small cargo and pickup trucks rose on the back of new product introductions and uptick in buying sentiments especially with e-commerce sector and Government/Municipal applications, the company said.
Sales of medium and heavy trucks rose 13% to 12,804, while those of intermediate and light trucks were up 55% at 4,541.
“The construction, manufacturing and logistics sectors aided in an increased demand across commercial vehicles segment during the month,” it added.
The commercial passenger carrier segment was at 4,093 units, a growth of only 3% over last year.
Tata said growth could have been higher.
“The demand for trucks was led by increasing restrictions on overloading, fresh tenders in the car carrier and petroleum sectors as well as coal and cement movement triggered by key infrastructure projects. However, the growth was lower than expected owing to challenges arising out of supply constraints on key parts.”
Demand for intermediate and light commercial vehicles were attributed to an increased requirements in agriculture based, FMCG and e-commerce sectors.
“Increasing demand for container and refrigerated trucks also resulted in increased demand in the I&LCV segment,” it said.
The cumulative sales growth of the commercial vehicles business for the year so far is at 19% to 308,922 units.
The company exported 4,900 commercial vehicles during the quarter, a growth of 5% over last year.