Festive cheer, GST 2.0 drive Tata Motors to beat M&M, Hyundai in October sales

Thanks to robust festive season sales and full month’s impact of GST 2.0, Tata Motors' passenger vehicle unit, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (TMPV), secured the second spot in October 2025 with 74,705 units sold in the month, recording 81% growth from September, and widening its lead over rival companies such as Mahindra and Hyundai, the government's Vahan passenger vehicle retail data shows.

Behind Maruti Suzuki , TMPV's sales jumped sharply in October from 41,151 units sold in September 2025 and 38,286 units in August 2025. Tata's sales recorded a robust jump in October, thanks to a strong demand for its SUV offerings and the company's equivalent festive push.

Rival Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) sold 66,800 units in October 2025. It secured the spot following Tata. Hyundai Motor India, however, stood behind M&M with the sale of 65,045 units.

Tata Motors sold 7,905 more units than M&M, which sold 9,660 more units than Hyundai during the month, which witnessed two key festivals, Dussehra and Diwali, which typically see a spike in sales.

Tata's growth momentum continued in October after selling 3,492 more units than M&M and 5,339 units than Hyundai. However, in August, both rivals had recorded higher sales than Tata.

The festive season started towards the end of September (22nd Sep). Driven by pent-up demand from August, when customers deferred purchase decisions, and price reduction due to GST changes, companies highlighted a strong pick-up in footfalls and retail sales.

However, wholesale dispatches have been relatively modest for a few OEMs due to late offtake by dealers and logistics constraints. Tractor volumes have been particularly robust.

The GST Council provided a much-needed booster shot to the auto sector by reducing the tax rates on the majority of auto segments. “These timely rate cuts, coupled with other sectoral tailwinds like normal monsoon boosting rural sentiment, a near-100 basis points reduction in interest rates in CY25 and income tax benefits, are expected to revive demand for the auto sector from this festive season,” Motilal Oswal's earlier note said.

UBS says given the substantial cut in GST rates and the additional discounts offered by companies, especially in cars, the demand bump up during the festive season needs to sustain beyond festive to meet the high growth estimates being priced into the stocks. "We remain cautious on sector valuations at current levels due to elevated expectations," UBS said in its October 2, 2025, report.