Motown: November 2015

The Indian car bazaar, which got into a festive mood in October, has continued the strong run in November as the industry is estimated to have posted yet another month of double-digit growth. Other segments of the automobile market too showed strong performance, though two-wheeler sales remained under pressure.
Based on industry numbers, manufacturers are estimated to have dispatched about 2.33 lakh cars in the past month, a more than 10% increase compared with the year-earlier month's 2.11 lakh units. Sales of utility vehicles too have gathered momentum, with a 17% jump led by strong demand for Hyundai's Creta and the Mahindra TUV 300.
What came in as a surprise though was a surge in tractor sales. However, industry executives were not willing yet to predict a turnaround in the rural economy. One of the reasons for this was the sluggish demand for two-wheelers, which is also considered as barometer of the health of the rural economy.
India's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero MotoCorp, posted near flat sales, while at its nearest rival, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter, domestic sales fell nearly 12%.
Rajesh Jejurikar, president and chief executive-farm equipment and two-wheeler division at Mahindra & Mahindra, said the company's tractor sales rose 47% from a year earlier.
Rival Escorts Agri Machinery also posted 12.2% growth in tractor sales after a long time, hinting at a change in the declining trend in the tractor segment. Escorts' tractor sales had dropped 31.5% in the previous month.
The commercial vehicle segment also continued strong growth. Ashok Leyland's sales grew 16% in November year-over-year, while VE Commercial Vehicle reported nearly 26% growth.
The car market continued to be buoyant. However unlike in October, when a majority of manufactures had posted growth, sales at only a select few car makers have grown in the past month. At market leader Maruti Suzuki, domestic sales grew 10.6%.
A dozen launches were seen in the last few months and the slew of new cars is what driving the volumes.
The Creta drove Hyundai Motor India's volume up 23%, while the TUV 300 helped Mahindra & Mahindra post growth of 38%. At Renault India, the Kwid small car helped post a more than twofold increase in sales. The Figo and Figo Aspire drove Ford India's sales up 55%.
Industry players said if not for the Diwali holidays and disruption in dispatches in Chennai due to heavy rains, which is estimated to have impacted 10,000 to 15,000 units, the growth in car sales could have been much higher.
Renault, which has a factory in Chennai with partner Nissan, is sitting on 50,000 bookings for the Kwid as the rains have hurt operations. It has managed to deliver only 10,000 units so far.