Following an encouraging festive season, automobile sales in India switched back to the long running downward trend in November 2019. Tata Motors managed to clock domestic sales (across both passenger and commercial vehicle segments) of 38,057 units last month, at a steep YoY decline of 25%.
Despite the poor show, Tata Motors is confident about its short term outlook, especially in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment which posted a growth of 23.6% compared to October 2019. Tata says that the enquiries in this segment are gradually increasing as fleet owners are realizing the economic benefits of replacing their old trucks with new ones.
The company is also focusing on BS-VI transition across all segments in addition to reducing the overall system stock. According to Girish Wagh, president, commercial vehicles business unit, Tata Motors, the company’s retail sales in November is over 10% higher than its wholesales, thereby reducing the stock level. The situation is expected to improve further in the coming months.
Of all the segments, the small commercial vehicles and pickups brought in the highest sales volume at 15,787 units, a YoY decline of 3%. The total domestic sales volume of CVs stood at 27,657 units as against 33,488 units (17% decline YoY).
As far as passenger vehicle business unit is concerned, Tata Motors sold 10,400 units last month which is a massive 39% less compared to the same month previous year. However, the retail sales outnumbered wholesales by 15%, thus helping the passenger vehicles business unit (PVBU) reduce its stock level this fiscal by a good 35%.
Like the CVBU, PVBU also has reasons to be optimistic about the immediate future as it is gearing up to launch a slew of new products such as the Nexon EV, Gravitas (7-seat Harrier) and the eagerly anticipated Altroz premium hatchback. The incremental sales volume from the new products should help the company increase its overall tally quite significantly.
That’s not all. The company is also working on BS-VI version of its passenger car lineup in addition to facelifts of the Tiago and Tigor twins. The general auto industry slowdown is expected to ease down after the BS-VI regulations kick in from April 1, 2020.
This post was last modified on December 1, 2019 7:39 pm