Car sales on a bumpy ride ahead of festivities

Plagued by the shortage of semiconductors, car sales in September saw a huge drop of 36.5 percent to 185,908 units from 292,858 units in the same month last year.

- Ritwik Sinha

Apart from Tata Motors and Toyota Kirloskar, all the top five carmakers posted de-growth in sales.

Maruti Suzuki

The country’s largest passenger car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) posted a total sales (domestic + exports) of 86,380 units, compared to 160,442 units in the corresponding month last year.

Total sales in the month include domestic sales of 66,415 units, sales to other OEM of 2,400 units and exports of 17,565 units.

Total domestic sales (including passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles) stood at 66,415 units in September, as against 150,040 units in the same period last year.

The total exports in September was 17,565 units, up from 7,834 units in the year-ago period.

“Sales volume in September was adversely impacted due to shortage of electronic components. The company took all possible measures to limit the adverse impact,” the company said.

The mini passenger vehicles, Alto and S-Presso, clocked 14,936 unit sales in September 2021, compared to 27,246 units in September 2020. Compact passenger vehicles including WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire, and Tour S logged 20,891 units in the month, against 84,213 units in September last year.

Utility Vehicles clocked sales of 18,459 units in September including Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross, VitaraBrezza, and XL6 as against 23,699 units in September 2020.

Sales for the mid-size Ciaz segment was 981 units during the month compared to 1,534 units in the same month last year.