India’s automotive industry has recorded robust festive sales in the calendar year 2025. Sales in the festive season, which kicked off on the first day of Navratri on Sept. 22, coincided with the new GST rate implementation.
While all segments saw good demand, however a strong growth was registered in the small cars segment, which has been ailing from the past four-five fiscals. Industry sources told NDTV Profit, that small cars segment saw double digit growth. The small car sales have seen good demand in both rural and urban market.
Another industry source told the channel that retail sales in festive period grew by 20-25%. The SUV segment in retail continued to be the flavour of the nation, and saw continuous growth. Tata Motors Passenger vehicles also saw a good demand for its SUVs.
Tata Motors PV registered it’s highest-ever festive sales of over 1 lakh retails. In a statement, Shailesh Chandra, MD and CEO of Tata Motors PV said that the company registered 33% growth compared to the same period last year.
“SUVs continue to lead sales momentum. Nexon registered over 38,000 retails, 73% growth YoY. Punch clocked 32,000 units, 29% growth YoY. Expect this performance for the rest of the fiscal,” said Chandra. Auto industry expects strong sales to continue for rest of the calendar year.
On the other hand, Hyundai Motors India is likely to have delivered over 70,000 cars in the festive season. The company had been delivering over 2,500 cars daily since the beginning of festive season. Retail sales surged to 30% YoY.
Tarun Garg, Whole-time Director and COO, of Hyundai Motor India in a statement said that, this momentum has carried through the entire Navratri period till Dhanteras.
He said, “Enquiries have risen 10% year-on-year, with over 18,000 customers enquiring daily. Bookings have been even stronger, averaging nearly 3,500 per day, solid 17% growth over last year.”
Garg added, “We expect this buoyancy to sustain post festive. November marriage season is likely to further lift demand, while December is expected to maintain the positive momentum.”
For India’s largest car company in terms of market share, Maruti Suzuki delivered a record 51,000 cars on Dhanteras. The company is expected to release festive sales numbers by the end of this month, however an industry source indicated that sales would touch a lakh units for the company.
As per the company’s statement, since the new GST rates were announced, the company received 4.5 lakh bookings till Oct. 18. Out of the total sales, almost 22% or 1 lakh bookings were for small cars.
. Read more on Auto by NDTV Profit.