The end of Navratri and Dussera has brought the curtain down on the first part of the festive season of 2020. The automotive industry was keenly eyeing demand revival during this period. The first 10 days of the festival period accounts for 30-40 percent of the entire festive period sales.
In the week’s news wrap on the industry, we take a look at how the festive days panned out for two-wheeler manufacturers. But before that, here’s a look at what else made headline during the week.
Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki announce Q2 earnings
Tata Motors, the country's largest commercial vehicle maker and owner of luxury car brand Jaguar Land Rover, posted a consolidated loss of Rs 314.5 crore in the quarter ended September 30.
India's largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India, reported a one percent year-on-year growth in Q2 FY21 standalone profit on October 29.
Hero MotoCorp-Harley-Davidson announce India tie-up
Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson have kept their partnership open to include more agreements in future including joint development of products as the Indian bike maker aims to go after the premium segment aggressively.
Following the October 27 announcement which said Hero will sell and service Harley products in India as part of a licensing agreement, a senior Hero MotoCorp official has confirmed that the partnership will keep ‘expanding and extending’ in future
Maruti Suzuki says there is no need for a GST cut
There is no need for an immediate cut in Goods and Services Tax (GST) on automobiles since demand is upbeat, said Chairman of Maruti Suzuki RC Bhargava.
The Delhi-based car maker sold nearly 10,000 cars every day during the ten days of Navratri and Dussera festivities.
TVS records 29 percent decline in Q2 net profit
TVS Motor Company on October 29 reported a 29.37 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 181.41 crore for the quarter ended September.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 256.88 crore in the July-September period of the previous fiscal.
Mercedes delivers 550 cars in festive days
German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz on Monday said it delivered 550 cars during Navratri and Dussehra thus driving into a robust festive season.
The deliveries were in Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi NCR and other Northern markets. The festive season deliveries in the Delhi-NCR region stood at 175 units and there is an anticipation of strong demand for upcoming Diwali and Dhanteras period, Mercedes-Benz India said in a statement.
Navratri turns out to be a mixed bag for two-wheelers
The festive period has brought about mixed reactions from the auto industry.
While some dealers associated with the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association said Navratri and Dussera sales were a major disappointment, others such as two-wheeler manufacturers – Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company and Royal Enfield – have spoken about medium to strong pick up in volumes for the same period compared to previous non-festive days.
Senior management of the country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp said the company nearly surpassed Navratri-Dussera sales recorded last year.
Speaking to analysts in a conference call Niranjan Gupta, CFO, Hero MotoCorp said, “In the first ten days of the festive period we have registered 96 percent of retail compared to the previous level. The enquiries moving forward are very encouraging and we are confident of a good festive season. Semi-urban and urban are getting on the trend.”
Demand for two-wheelers made by Bajaj Auto during the first five days of the season was on par with the same period last year. The company had rolled out special offers on some of its products including the Pulsar 125 where it was offering Rs 3,000 discount.
“The first few days of the season suggests that demand is at similar levels. The walk-ins, the inquiries, et cetera, seem to be at a similar level. So let's see how the next few days go. These are very important. However, we are very pleased in the domestic motorcycles,” said Rakesh Sharma, executive director, Bajaj Auto in an analyst conference call.
While pan-India sales numbers were not made available but niche bike maker Royal Enfield said that across Maharashtra 3700 motorcycles from 92 dealerships were delivered by it during the ten festive days including 1200 in Mumbai in Dussera.
FADA has promised to share data for the entire festive period comprising 30-40 days after Diwali. This will include data for Navratri and Dussera as well. Still, the retail sales that will be shared by FADA will not have data of a few states like Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.
Naveen Chauhan, head of sales and aftersales, Hero MotoCorp said, “There is a lot of positivity among our dealers. The first ten days of the festive period generates one-third of the sales planned for the entire festival period and it is going accordingly. There are three states that do not share data which make up 18-20 percent of our numbers."
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