Tata Motors reported a 20% growth for September to 64,598 vehicles, led once again by the commercial vehicle segment.
The 20% overall growth is, however, below the 40% growth seen for the first six months of the current financial year.
Following the recent trend, growth was led by the commercial vehicle division, which saw sales rise 26% to 46,169 units vs 36,678 units in September 2017.
In comparison, passenger vehicle numbers were up only 7% at 18,429 units compared to 17,286 units.
However, said the company, the performance was decent considering “the industry witnessed degrowth” during the month.
Like in case of CVs, the growth in September was well below the average seen in the first six months.
For the first six months of the year, passenger vehicle sales has risen 31% to 106,865, averaging 17,810 per month.
Even though the growth rate was lower in September, the total sales of passenger vehicles was still higher than the average seen for the last six months.
CV DETAILS
The medium and heavy truck segment for Tata Motors continued to grow by 32% with 16,239 units compared to 12,259 units last year.
The intermediate and light truck segment delivered a robust performance with 5,465 units compared to 4,449 units over last year, a growth of 23%.
The small cargo and pickup segment had a growth of 27% at 19,846 units compared to 15,607 units.
The overall growth of the CV segment was attributable to “strong economic activities, with growth in Index of Industry production (IIP) and core sectors,” it said.
Growth was led by the strong acceptance and superior performance of Signa and Prima trucks and tippers, it added.
“The M&HCV industry continues to grow on the back of road construction, affordable housing, irrigation projects and government spending on infrastructure projects in addition to the healthy growth in core sectors like cement, coal and steel.
“The e-commerce, FMCG, Durables, and Auto carriers, 3PL players and oil tankers are also driving the growth of MHCVs,” it said.
In the intermediate and light truck segment, the launch of Tata Ultra range of trucks helped with the volumes, the company said.
“Farm loan waivers and Minimum Support Price (MSP) hikes is continuing to support rural sentiments and the economy. Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) has also been a lead indicator of the ILCV demand,” it said.
In the small CV and pickup segment, growth was largely driven by small cargo — like the Ace — with less than 1 ton capacity, helped by growth in ecommerce sector.
“The continued evolution of the hub-spoke model and the growing rural consumption have also led to small vehicles demand for last mile connectivity,” it said.
The commercial vehicle segment also includes buses, vans and other passenger CVs.
These reported a growth of 6% to 4,619 units, largely tracking the overall passenger vehicle market, Tata Motors said.
“The CV passenger vehicles segment continues to grow albeit on a slower pace on the back of STU (state transport utility) sales and ambulances, in addition to the uptick in the STU buying,” it said.
PASSENGER VEHICLES
Passenger vehicle sales continued to underperform overall sales, with a growth of just 7%.
“This is the third consecutive month Tata Motors’ Passenger Vehicles grew significantly, while the industry witnessed degrowth,” it said.
The company attributed demand for its newer models such as Tiago and Nexon for the continued traction.
“The continuous strong demand for our new generation vehicles has led to this consistent month-on-month growth,” it said.
Tata Motors said the launch of Tiago NRG, the Nexon AMT and Nexon KRAZ limited edition have received “an overwhelming response” and saw good traction in the market.
EXPORTS
The company’s sales from exports (from CV and PV) in September 2018 grew by 35% with 5,250 units compared to 3,887 units last year.
“The CV Exports have shown a strong growth owing to the increase in uptake in demand in Bangladesh post the Eid season supported by the festive buying in Nepal,” it said.