The demand is strong but like most OEMs, Mahindra has been struggling to sort out supply chain related problems
Automotive sales reports for the month of April 2021 is going to be stranger than regular reports in that there won’t be a year-on-year comparison metric. As most of you know, the Indian automotive industry came to a grinding halt in the month of April 2020 with all manufacturers registering zero dispatches. So, analyzing April 2021 sales performance of OEMs is not exactly straightforward. We have to settle for a month-on-month comparison to access the short term trajectory.
Mahindra Automotive Division sales – April 2021
Mahindra & Mahindra’s Automotive Sector registered sales of 36,437 units in April 2021, a 9.5% improvement compared to March 2021. This figure includes passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and exports. Top selling Mahindra cars for the month were the likes of Bolero, Scorpio, Thar and XUV300.
The company’s Utility Vehicle portfolio brought in a sales volume of 18,186 units while the car division (mostly EV division) only clocked 99 units. The delay in the launches of XUV700 and new Scorpio is also hurting the bottom line.
Commercial Vehicles
A lion’s share of Mahindra’s commercial vehicle sales comes from the LCV (2 – 3.5 Tonne) category where its Bolero Pickups has been leading the segment by far. This category contributed to 12,210 units while sub-2T sector clocked 1,561 units. The 3.5T+ LCVs and MHCVs came up with a meager tally of 333 units while 3W segment brought 2,043 units to the table.
Export operation is the only department which has data from previous year’s April for comparison but the base was very small anyway. Mahindra shipped 2,005 units last month which is a growth of 174% YoY.
Speaking about the April 2021 sales performance, Veejay Nakra, CEO of M&M’s automotive division, stated that the company is witnessing strong demand but the sales operation is hampered by lockdown restrictions and corresponding supply chain related production challenges. He added that the company will continue to offer digital and contact-less sales and service support to its customers.
Farm Equipment Sector
Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector which is the world’s largest of its kind had a comparatively better run last month. The division registered domestic sales of 26,130 units as against 4,716 units during the same month last year. The company exported 1,393 units as against April 2020’s figure of 56 units.
Hemant Sikka, President of M&M’s Farm Equipment division echoed the Automotive division head’s sentiment when it comes to lock-down induced supply chain challenges. The dealership closures in certain worst affected states further slowed down the demand momentum. However, the official is confident that the tractor demand will bounce back as farmers are gearing up for Kharif crops in the coming weeks. He also stated that the key focus will be to ensure safety of the company’s people and its partners.
To summarize, the April 2021 seems to be a strong month for the Indian automotive industry in general owing to a strong demand but the supply-chain shortage and the severe second wave of the pandemic are proving to significant hurdles.
