Mahindra sells a record 73,338 SUVs in India in October, but tractor sales slip 13%

Mahindra & Mahindra sold 73,338 SUVs in India in October, the most it has ever sold in a single month, as festive demand kept its Scorpio, Thar and XUV showrooms busy. The figure was 2% higher than the 71,624 it sold a year earlier.

Counting exports, the company’s utility vehicle sales came to 74,904. Across all its vehicles, cars, pickups and trucks included, Mahindra sold 1,31,109 units, up 9%, which was also a monthly record.

“October was a landmark month for us,” said Velusamy R, president of the automotive business, adding that both the SUV and the overall numbers were “the highest we have ever clocked in a month”.

Smaller commercial vehicles did well too. Domestic sales of pickups and light goods carriers rose 4% to 33,037, and automotive exports jumped 77% to 7,102 vehicles from 4,015. Heavier trucks and buses grew 40% to 2,838 units. Vinod Sahay, who runs the truck and bus business, said the outlook was confident but warned that rising commodity and input costs needed watching.

The weak spot was the farm. Domestic tractor sales fell 13% to 62,626 from 72,071 a year ago. Mahindra blamed the calendar: Diwali, when many farmers buy, falls in November this year, while last year it came in October. Tractor exports rose 40% to 2,220, taking total tractor sales to 64,846.

The numbers came on a day of record claims from carmakers. Hyundai Motor India reported its best month ever earlier on Sunday. Analysts at Jefferies had expected a softer October for cars and two-wheelers because of the later festival, with truck registrations running far ahead of last year. Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors are still to report.