Tata Motors reported a growth of 38% for its domestic auto sales for February, boosted by strong sales of SUVs as well commercial vehicles.
Sales of commercial vehicles, which rose 36% on year, accounted for 41,222 out of the 58,993 total automobiles sold in February. The growth rate is slightly below the 38% seen in January, but the overall number is higher than the 39,386 recorded in that month.
Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles sales performance in February was at 17,771 units as against 12,272 units a year ago, a growth of 45% over last year. In January, they had come in at 20,055 units, an increase of 55% on year.
The 45% growth in passenger segment can be further broken down into a 17% jump for cars and a 165% growth for utility vehicles.
The company said passenger vehicle numbers were boosted by “increasing demand of Tiago and Tigor along with Nexon and Hexa gaining traction in the steadily growing UV Segment. ”
With one month left to go, Tata Motors has been able to post a 21% jump in passenger vehicle sales in the year so far at 1.67 lakh units.
COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
The company said CV sales rose 36% “on the back of robust infrastructural developments, fresh tenders in car carriers, coal movement and the petroleum sector.”
Growth was also contributed by construction, growing logistics, e-commerce and FMCG applications, it added.
Out of the total 41,222 units of CVs sold, the medium and heavy trucks accounted for 15,241 units, higher by 25% over last year. In January, their sales had risen by 13% to 12,804.
Medium and heavy trucks are important as they generate the highest amounts of profit for Tata Motors.
“Key factors such as stringent restrictions on overloading, replacement buying and various infrastructure projects continued to drive demand for higher tonnage trucks and tippers,” the company said.
The intermediate and light segment saw a 54% growth to 4,810 units in February, compared to 55% growth to 4,541 in January.
Growth in this segment was aided by an increased thrust in Agriculture based, FMCG and E-commerce sectors. “Increasing demand for container and refrigerated trucks also led to this growth,” it added.
The small cargo and pickup segment saw a 50% jump in sales to 16,014 vehicles, compared to a 75% growth seen in January to 17,948 units.
Growth in this segment was “on the back of new product introductions and an uptick in buying sentiments especially with the e-commerce sector and Government/Municipal applications.”
Tata Motors also makes buses and vans. The commercial passenger carrier segment saw a 16% growth to 5,157 vehicles.
“This growth is driven primarily by the increase in demand for school buses due to the start of the annual school season.”
With this, the company has been able to report a 21% growth in its CV sales for the first 11 months of the year, taking its total so far to 3.50 lakh.
The company’s exports in February 2018 was at 4768 units, a decline of 3% over last year.