Indian automakers kicked off September by reporting strong August 2026 wholesale numbers, with Mahindra & Mahindra posting 42% overall growth and Bajaj Auto up 28%, as the sector heads into the festive season with SUV and two-wheeler demand running well ahead of last year.
Mahindra & Mahindra Leads With SUV Strength
Mahindra & Mahindra’s overall auto sales for August 2026 stood at 1,07,648 vehicles, a 42% year-on-year jump including exports. Within this, the utility vehicle segment sold 59,257 units domestically, up 50%, and 61,167 units including exports. Domestic commercial vehicle sales came in at 27,415 units, a 22% increase.
Dr Velusamy R, President of Automotive Business at Mahindra & Mahindra, said demand remained strong across the portfolio, with the updated Scorpio-N and BE 6 SPORTEQ drawing a strong market response, and that the company expects to build on this momentum through the festive season.
The scale of M&M’s growth stands out even against a broadly positive August for the industry. A 50% jump in domestic UV sales, in particular, points to sustained demand for SUVs, a segment that has been the primary growth engine for the Indian passenger vehicle industry over the past several years, as buyers have steadily traded up from smaller hatchbacks and sedans.
Bajaj Auto And Two-Wheeler Makers Post Strong Growth
Bajaj Auto reported a 28% jump in total sales to 5,35,764 units in August 2026, up from 4,17,616 units a year earlier. JSW MG Motor India posted a 14% year-on-year rise in wholesales to 7,508 units, compared with 6,578 units in August 2025. Two-wheelers remain the largest volume segment in the Indian auto market by unit count, so double-digit growth from a large player like Bajaj Auto is a meaningful signal for overall industry health heading into the festive quarter, which typically accounts for a disproportionate share of annual two-wheeler sales.
August 2026 Sales At A Glance
| Company | August 2026 Sales | YoY Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Mahindra & Mahindra (overall) | 1,07,648 units | +42% |
| M&M Utility Vehicles (domestic) | 59,257 units | +50% |
| M&M Commercial Vehicles (domestic) | 27,415 units | +22% |
| Bajaj Auto (total) | 5,35,764 units | +28% |
| JSW MG Motor India | 7,508 units | +14% |
| Escorts Kubota (tractors, total) | 10,072 units | +19.1% |
| SML Mahindra | 1,175 units | +40% |
Tractors And Commercial Vehicles
Escorts Kubota’s agri-machinery business sold 10,072 tractors in August, up 19.1% from 8,456 units a year ago, with domestic tractor sales rising 20.5% to 9,523 units. Export tractor volumes were largely flat at 549 units against 554 units a year earlier. Tractor demand is closely tied to rural cash flows and monsoon performance, so a near-20% jump suggests reasonably healthy farm-sector sentiment heading into the second half of the fiscal year. Smaller commercial vehicle maker SML Mahindra reported a 40% jump in sales to 1,175 units, a smaller base but a similarly strong growth rate.
Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors Numbers Awaited
Shares of Maruti Suzuki were trading around 1.4% lower ahead of the release of its August sales data, while investors also awaited numbers from Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor, Ashok Leyland and Eicher Motors, all of which were due to report their monthly business updates through the day. As India’s largest passenger vehicle maker by volume, Maruti Suzuki’s numbers are typically viewed as the bellwether for the broader passenger vehicle segment, and analysts will be comparing its August performance against the sharp growth already reported by M&M in the SUV category.
Why This Matters For The Festive Season
August sales figures are watched closely because they sit just ahead of India’s main festive buying period, when consumer purchase decisions typically accelerate. Manufacturers, dealers and analysts use these early wholesale numbers, vehicles dispatched from factories to dealerships, as a leading indicator of both current retail demand and dealer inventory positioning ahead of the peak selling window. A strong August, as reported by M&M, Bajaj Auto and the tractor makers, generally gives dealers confidence to build inventory for the festive period rather than staying conservative.
Early numbers from M&M, Bajaj Auto and the tractor makers point to healthy underlying demand heading into that window, though a fuller sector picture will only emerge once the remaining large-cap auto names, including Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors, which together account for a large share of India’s passenger vehicle market, report their own figures later in the day.
Investors tracking the Nifty Auto index through the rest of the session can do so via an online trading platform, while anyone looking to act on today’s numbers directly in individual auto counters will need an active demat and trading account to place those trades.
This report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Sales figures are as reported by the respective companies on September 1, 2026.
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