M&M vehicle sales down 2% in October

Mumbai, Nov 1 (IANS) Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) on Wednesday reported that it sold 51,149 vehicles in October, down by two per cent from 52,008 units sold the same month in 2016.

In the passenger vehicles segment which includes utility vehicles, cars and vans, it sold 23,413 vehicles in October, down by five per cent from the 24,737 units sold during the same month in 2016.

The company's domestic sales stood at 48,818 units in October, as against 48,729 vehicles during the corresponding month in 2016.

In the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment, the firm sold 748 vehicles for the month, a growth of 59 per cent while its exports for October stood at 2,331 vehicles, a de-growth of 29 per cent from the 3,279 units exported in the corresponding month in 2016.

Commenting on the monthly performance, company President, Automotive Sector, Rajan Wadhera said: "The auto industry has had a mixed month. The build up to Dhanteras and Diwali was good but the demand tapered off subsequently.

"In 2016 all festivals were in the month of October and the industry volumes had a high base. This year, September and October combined, we have grown by 7.9 per cent in auto division."

"Going forward, we enter into a year-end period of lower sales. Our refreshes and new variants, that have been launched, will carve out a niche and we expect to sustain the growth momentum for the remaining period of the current financial year," he added.