India is in the midst of a four-month-long festive period, which began in September with Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi. Over this duration, the auto industry registered a record number of sales in the states of Kerala and Maharashtra. Companies like Maruti saw a 25% jump, and Hyundai registered a 10% increase at the beginning of the festive season. The entire industry is now awaiting Navratri and Diwali.
Over the past few months, companies have been bolstering their product pipelines. There have been launches of facelifts for Tata Nexon internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric vehicle (EV) variants, special variants of KIA Carens X-Line and Seltos, as well as new launches like Honda Elevate, Hyundai Exter, Mercedes GLC and EQE 500 4Matic SUV, BMW ix1, Audi Q8 Etron, Triumph 1200, TVS X and TVS RTR 310. With robust sales in September, the sector is enthusiastic about the remaining weeks of the festive season.
Manish Raj Singhania, President of FADA, told CNBC TV18, “As a dealer community, we are quite optimistic about the upcoming festival season. We saw passenger vehicle sales reach an all-time high in September. Every month a new record is being set in auto retails. During the festive season, consumers come out with all their savings to buy vehicles in the auspicious period. Everything seems good for the festive season.”
As Diwali approaches, more facelifts are on the horizon. Tata Motors is expected to launch facelift versions of its popular SUVs Safari and Harrier. A spokesperson for Tata Motors informed CNBC TV18, “We expect industry growth to be strong during the festive season and for the financial year; the industry is likely to touch four million units. The trend towards electrification is set to strengthen further with multiple offerings in the market. We will continue to stay agile and strengthen our portfolio in ICE and EVs. In FY24, we aim to continue posting growth on the back of new launches and strong demand for all our products.”
Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director of Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki, said, “We are hoping that demand momentum will continue. Going forward we have Navratras in the North and West followed by Durga Puja in the East and then Dussehra and Diwali. So, the industry is optimistic about robust sales during this period which will be one million sales out of the industry’s projected sales of 4.1 million units this financial year. Looking at industry growth this year, we are confident of achieving sales of 500 thousand units during the festive period.”
Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO – Automotive Division at Mahindra and Mahindra, said, “Our portfolio of strong authentic SUVs is fresh in the minds of our consumers. We have a very good booking pipeline which we are ready to deliver to our customers. As is customary each year, we intend to introduce selective promotional schemes on specific models. We will definitely bring more cheer to this festive season with some exciting offers on our Electric Vehicles.”
Audi India registered an 88% growth in the first nine months of 2023 and retailed 5,530 units. In the third quarter alone, the company retailed 2,056 units. To prepare for the festive season, they launched the Audi Q8 Limited Edition and Audi Q5 Limited Edition as well as new electric cars – the Audi Q8 e-tron and Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron.
Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India told CNBC TV18, “We have a strong order bank leading up to the festive season. There is continued demand for Audi A4, Audi A6, Audi Q5 and top-of-the-line cars like Audi Q7, Audi Q8, Audi A8 L, Audi S5 Sportback, Audi RS5 Sportback, Audi RS Q8, Audi e-tron GT and Audi RS e-tron GT. We are confident of good demand during the festive season for our electric range. Our SUV range has grown by a staggering 187% in the first nine months while Performance and Lifestyle cars including e-tron range have witnessed a 42% growth during the same period.”
Another luxury auto maker BMW launched the iX1, BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe M Performance Edition, MINI Charged Edition and the new BMW M 1000 R have been launched keeping the festive season in mind. The company’s financial arm BMW India Financial Services is also offering customized financial plans which include monthly instalments, reduced rate of interest for selective models, assured buy-back options and flexible term-end opportunities among other benefits. The offer is applicable on limited units of select models BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe, BMW 3 Series Gran Limousine, BMW 6 Series GT, BMW X1, BMW X3 and BMW iX. The company is also offering a year-assured buy-back campaign on the MINI Electric.