September 2026 turned out to be a month to remember for India’s automobile industry. With the festive season around the corner, demand picked up across almost every segment, from small scooters and family cars to heavy trucks and electric buses. Several companies posted their best-ever monthly or quarterly numbers, helped by steady economic activity, strong infrastructure spending and lasting momentum from last year’s GST 2.0 reforms. Greener options such as EVs and CNG also played a bigger part than ever. Here is how the month played out.
Passenger Vehicles
Setting the tone, market leader Maruti Suzuki sold 236,013 units in September, up about 24%, and its domestic passenger vehicle sales jumped about 37% to 181,838 units. Utility vehicles surged about 62% to 78,911 units, while passenger cars grew 24%. Exports rose about 5% to 44,219 units. Over April–September, Maruti’s total sales climbed about 28% to 1,379,378 units.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles had its best quarter ever, selling 201,723 units in July–September, up 40%. In September alone, it crossed 70,000 units for the first time. Tata’s story is a green one as EV sales jumped 90% to a record 47,150 units in the quarter, and EVs now make up 23% of its sales, nearly three times the industry average. Add CNG, and greener powertrains account for more than half of Tata’s volumes. Its Punch was India’s best-selling SUV in the quarter.
Mahindra & Mahindra kept its SUV engine running, with domestic SUV sales up 14% to 64,092 units and total sales up 15% to 114,874 vehicles. The company also crossed 1 lakh billings of its electric SUVs. Its only weak spot was exports, which slipped 7%.
Hyundai and Kia both broke their own records. Hyundai sold 77,916 units, its highest-ever monthly total, up 10.8%, with domestic sales and exports growing almost equally. Kia went further in percentage terms, with sales up 41% to 32,017 units, its best month since entering India, led by the Seltos and Sonet.
Among the smaller players, Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 28,218 units and is up 8% for the year so far. Nissan was the surprise of the month, doubling its domestic sales to 3,300 units on the back of its new Tekton SUV, while exports of 6,725 units still made up the bulk of its volumes.
Two-Wheelers
India’s two-wheeler makers had plenty to celebrate. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India sold 7.06 lakh units in September, up 24%, with domestic sales rising 26%. Over the first half of the year, its sales grew 15% to 34.40 lakh units.
TVS Motor matched that pace. Its September sales rose 24% to 672,790 units, and its quarterly sales grew 27% to 1.9 million. Electric scooters and motorcycles were a highlight, with EV sales more than doubling in September to 65,799 units. Exports surged 48%, and three-wheelers climbed 57%.
Royal Enfield sold 1,33,958 motorcycles, its best month ever, up 8%. Over the first half, sales rose 20% to more than 7 lakh units, helped by new launches such as the Himalayan 440. Suzuki Motorcycle India also grew 8% to 1,33,688 units, with exports jumping 41% even as domestic growth stayed modest at 3% against a high base.
Commercial Vehicles
The commercial vehicle segment showed just how busy India’s economy is. Tata Motors sold 1,35,114 commercial vehicles in the July–September quarter, up 42.7%, and its September sales rose 42.4% to 51,062 units. Heavy trucks grew more than 40%, and its international business nearly tripled.
Ashok Leyland told a similar story. Its sales grew 28% to 24,049 vehicles, and domestic medium and heavy truck sales jumped 44%, driven by infrastructure and freight demand. Buses were the one area of concern, with domestic bus sales still down 6% for the year to date despite a good September. Mahindra’s trucks and buses business grew 53% to 2,912 vehicles, with cargo vehicles up 84%.
In electric buses, JBM Auto stayed in front, registering 274 e-buses in September for a 33% market share. Over the first half of the year, it held about 24% of the market.
Tractors
On the farm, Sonalika Tractors crossed one lakh tractor sales in just six months, a milestone that took it a full year to reach eight years ago. It also hit its highest-ever monthly production of 19,000 tractors as it prepares for festive demand.
The Road Ahead
September has given the industry a strong launch pad for the festive season. SUVs, electric vehicles, trucks and two-wheelers are all moving in the right direction, and many companies say their order books are healthy. Rising fuel and commodity costs and a higher base in the coming months could slow the pace of growth.
