Riding on peak festive season purchases, domestic car sales moved to top gear in October led by market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors, which posted strong numbers.
Similarly, Nissan Motor India and Volkswagen also reported robust sales during the month but Toyota saw a decline of 6 per cent.
MSI's domestic sales were at 1,23,764 units as against 1,21,063 units in the same month last year, up 2.2 per cent.
"Market demand for Maruti Suzuki products remained strong during the month. Strong retail sales of Ciaz, S Cross and Ertiga, besides of course Brezza and Baleno, kept the momentum positive for us," MSI Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) R S Kalsi said.
The sales of its mini segment cars, including Alto and WagonR, however, declined by 9.8 per cent to 33,929 units as compared to 37,595 units in the year-ago month.
Sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire and Baleno also declined by 1.8 per cent to 50,116 units in October this year as against 51,048 units last year.
Utility vehicles consisting of Gypsy, Grand Vitara, Ertiga, S-Cross and compact SUV Vitara Brezza surged over 90.9 per cent to 18,008 units in October this year from 9,435 units in the corresponding month last year.
Rival Hyundai logged its best ever monthly domestic sales at 50,016 units last month as compared with 47,015 units in October last year, a growth of 6.4 per cent.
"Hyundai with a highest-ever domestic volume of 50,016 units registered record cumulative sales of 64,372 units in October 2016," Hyundai Motor India MD and CEO Y K Koo said.
The recently launched all new Elantra received an overwhelming response with 1,509 bookings resulting in 4-5 months waiting period, he added.
Homegrown Tata Motors saw domestic sales passenger vehicles grew over 28 per cent to 16,311 units last month, the company's highest sales in the last four years, as against 12,747 in the year-ago period.
The company's passenger car sales were up 31 per cent at 14,483 units in October compared with 11,049 in the year-ago period.
"While we have been growing month-on-month, the festive season has further ushered in strong growth impetus for us. The Tata Tiago continued to receive strong response and Tata Zest retails were highest ever since launch, during this festive season," Tata Motors President Passenger Vehicle Business Mayank Pareek said.
Nissan Motor India reported domestic sales of 6,108 vehicles in October, up 88.17 per cent, compared to 3,246 units sold in the same month a year ago.
"Our solid performance and overall growth of 88 per cent in October has been possible with the continued robust performance of the Datsun redi-GO and tremendous response to the recently launched redi-GO SPORT version," Nissan Motor India managing director Arun Malhotra said.
Homegrown Mahindra & Mahindra saw domestic sales decline
24.29 per cent to 29,814 units last month as compared with 39,383 in November 2015.
"While we expected an improved auto industry performance on the back of festive season and other positive parameters such as rural demand and interest rates softening, the sudden announcement of demonetisation has brought in an immediate disruption and uncertainty," M&M Chief Executive (Auto Division) Pravin Shah said.
Although, demonetisation is a good and welcoming step in the mid to long term, this has dampened overall sentiments leading to postponed buying thereby resulting in a major dip in volumes during November, he added.
"This is significant as the automotive industry had just started experiencing stability post a long and tough period of uncertainty," Shah said.
Similarly, Ford India saw its domestic sales decline last month. The company sold 6,876 units last month, down 21.62 per cent, from 8,773 units in the same period a year ago.
"While the macro-economic indicators continue to be positive, the auto industry does face short-term headwinds given the recent demonetisation drive," said Anurag Mehrotra, executive director, Marketing, Sales & Service, Ford India.
Honda Cars India saw its sales drop to 8,029 units in November, down 45.42 per cent, from 14,712 units in the same period of previous year.
"The November month saw major disruptions in the market due to the on-going effects of demonetisation and cash crunch. The consumer sentiment was low and footfalls and enquiries at the dealerships also slowed down during the month," Honda Cars India President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno said.
On the two-wheeler front, India Yamaha Motor reported 20 per cent increase in domestic sales at 51,106 units in November.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India sales growth remained flat at 3,25,448 units in November as compared to 3,26,466 units in same period of last year.
Abdul Majeed, Partner - Price Waterhouse and an auto expert said: "Demonetisation will have significant negative impact at least in the next two to three months across the board in the automotive sector especially two wheelers, SUV, luxury vehicles, commercial vehicles."
The measures government takes next to push economic growth will be the key for automotive sector, he added.
