With the domestic auto market slowly recovering, Indian tractor manufacturer Sonalika has recorded a massive yearly sales growth in July 2020
As the nation-wide lockdown slowly recedes, carmakers in India are showing huge growth in monthly sales figures, although only a few manufacturers were able to record positive YoY growth. Sonalika International Tractors Ltd is one of them, recording a massive 71.66 per cent YoY growth in the commercial market space.
In July 2020, the company was able to retail 8,219 tractor units in the Indian market, up from 4,788 units sold in July 2019, while overall sales (including exports) stood at 10,233 units. Surprisingly, despite such a massive YoY gain, Sonalika ITL has actually recorded negative growth in terms of monthly sales.
The company had managed to ship 15,200 units in June 2020, thus resulting in a 32.74 per cent sales drop. That said, the cumulative domestic growth (April to July 2020) was recorded at 17.7 per cent, the highest in the entire tractor industry. The company has attributed its growth to the introduction of new, feature-rich yet affordable range of tractors.
“Happy to share that we have recorded the highest-ever domestic growth of 71.7% in July 2020, beating the industry growth with overall sales at 10,223 tractors,” said Raman Mittal, Executive Director of Sonalika Group. “We have launched new tractors with advanced technology features at the same cost of current products, thus helping the farmers to upgrade & enhance their productivity and income,” he added.
Sonalika has been recording a positive YoY since May 2020, which is quite impressive, especially considering the sales slump in the Indian market. It would be interesting to see if the company can keep the sales momentum going through August as well. Just for reference, Sonalika’s sales figures for August 2019 stood at 7,369 units (up by 23.2 per cent on YoY basis, against 6,036 units in August 2018).
With the monsoon season in full swing, the sales rush for tractors and farm equipment is understandable. Sonalika’s tractor line-up consists of several models, with prices ranging from Rs. 2.95 lakh for an entry-level model, to a whopping Rs. 17 lakh for a fully-loaded premium machine! The basic models have a 20 HP diesel engine, while the most powerful model gets a 90 HP diesel motor.