October 2024 Passenger Car Sales in India: A Festive Boost for Dealers
In October 2024, the Indian car market was booming, and they sold significantly more cars than ever before. This was amazing because it meant dealers didn’t have as much old stock sitting around — it showed that people were feeling good about spending money again, essentially indicating the economy was picking back up. Now, let’s delve into why the entire thing happened and what made the car sales increase a lot.
Record Sales in October 2024
During Diwali and the festive season, something wonderful happened with car sales — they went up a lot! Maruti Suzuki was the main attraction, breaking records by selling 206,434 cars in just one month. Not too far behind, Hyundai Motor India and Mahindra & Mahindra also saw their sales increase a lot. All of this excitement added up to an amazing 425,000 cars getting registered by the end of October 2024.
Impact on Dealers’ Stock and Inventory Levels
The festive season came with wonderful deals and discounts, which made a large number of people want to make a purchase of items; this helped sellers a lot because they were able to sell a lot of their old material and make space for new items. Because people bought a lot, sellers were able to remove a lot of their stock and keep selling more and more.
During the Diwali 2024 season, car sales in India saw a significant jump, even though the year before was very difficult. By October 29, people had registered 4,25,000 passenger vehicles, which beats the earlier high of 3,99,112 units in January 2024. Since cars are getting registered at a rate of 14,732 units every day, it seems they may potentially hit 450,000 units by the time the month ends.
October of this year is special because major festivals such as Navratri, Dussehra, Dhanteras, and Diwali all happen at the same time. Usually, these events are over two months–but now, they are all put into one short period, causing many people to want to buy cars. This has caused a significant drop in the number of cars sold by companies such as Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.
Maruti Suzuki is doing really well, selling 14 percent more cars this year during the special days from Shradh to Diwali than last year; they’re hoping to sell at least 2 lakh cars a month and want to reduce the number of cars in their stores to about a month’s worth by the end of the month. Also, they’ve sold more cars in the rural than in the city areas during the second quarter.
In October, Tata Motors really saw their sales go up, with registrations jumping by 30 percent from what they were last year. Specifically, a spokesperson said that during this festive time, several people wanted their cars. Because of a strikingly large interest in their various types of vehicles, they are planning to give more than 15,000 cars just on Dhanteras.
The mood at car dealerships has really picked up because the number of cars getting registered increased quickly in the last week of October. Sanjay Thakker, who works at Landmark Cars, mentioned that they’re selling more cars from every brand now. Even though things were just okay at the beginning of the month, it finished off with a large amount of sales and a strong market. When all the festivals were starting, dealers had approximately 750,000 to 800,000 cars waiting to be sold; thanks to several cars being sold in the last week of October, it looks like the sold cars are going to be 70,000 more than the cars they had in stock, for the first time in five months; this is amazing because it means dealers won’t have as many unsold cars just sitting.
The current figure of 4.25 lakh units includes private cars and cabs listed on Vahan’s portal. Monthly vehicle registrations in 2024 have averaged around 3,33,000 units—5 percent higher than last year’s monthly average—bringing year-to-date registrations to an impressive total of 33 lakh units. In comparison, total passenger car registrations reached 38 lakh units in 2023 with the final two months contributing a notable 6.5 lakh units.
Main Reasons for Sales Growth
During Diwali season, car sales in India really go up quickly. It’s almost like a tradition to buy new cars because now seems very important, and sales definitely see a major jump.
-Car companies don’t stay either — they roll out many discounts and spectacular financing deals that make everyone want to buy their cars even more.
-And a substantial amount of car brands decided to release exactly 15 new models and special editions right in time for the festive buzz, which made even more people happy.
-In addition, since the economy’s doing better, and people are feeling happy about their money situations, that essentially prepared everything for a time when many people will buy cars.
Top-Performing Car Models
Hyundai Creta was extremely popular, selling 17,497 units, which made it the top SUV in October.
The Maruti Suzuki Swift also did really well in sales, especially when festivals were happening, everyone wanted one.
People were everywhere around the Mahindra XUV700 too, boosting Mahindra’s sales by 25% from last year.
Tata Nexon didn’t fall behind either — it’s doing very well, especially when it comes to electric vehicles.
Then there’s the Toyota Fortuner, which keeps doing great in the more expensive SUV market.
And note the Kia Seltos, it was very wanted during the festival times, making it a big success for Kia.
Market Shares of Top Models
Maruti Suzuki is nearly the best because a lot of people buy their Swift and Brezza, giving them a strikingly large part of the market at 42.79%.
Hyundai is close, thanks to the Creta and Venue making a lot of sales and helping them gain a 16.23% slice of the market.
Kia is also doing well, with the Seltos and Sonet appealing to a good group of buyers, netting them a 6.7% market share.
Tata Motors is involved in the business too — the Nexon and Punch have been hits, earning them a 7.5% share.
Mahindra made a mark with the XUV700 and Scorpio-N, getting an 8.5% share of the market.
Lastly, Toyota’s continuing with the Fortuner and Innova Crysta, managing to keep a 4.5% share of the market.
- Electric Vehicles: A Growing Segment
In October 2024, electric vehicles, also known as EVs, increased a lot in sales, making up approximately 7.61% of all cars sold in India; the Tata Nexon EV, MG Windsor, and Mahindra XUV400 were a portion of the cars people kept buying; Tata Motors was performing well with a big 58% of the EV market; then came MG Motors holding 24%, and close to them, Mahindra & Mahindra secured an 8.56% share.
- Conclusion
October 2024 hit record sales for cars in India, thanks to great events, such as the festive season — big savings — new car models appearing — and the economy doing better. Car sellers are happy because they don’t have much old stock sitting around anymore, which means the situation is getting better for selling cars in India.
