Nov. 4--MUMBAI, India -- Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the nation's largest utility vehicle maker, has posted a 32 percent sales growth in October and hopes to retain the momentum this month on the back of strong orders.

Senior vice-president Arun Malhotra said: "Lower interest rates and packages offered by finance companies have triggered sales in class B & C towns. Our strong distribution network in the rural markets has helped us notch up good sales numbers in these markets in the past few months."

M&M said the combined sales of its three models -- Scorpio, Bolero and Xylo -- went up to 18,410 in October. Industry analysts said M&M now commands 65 percent share of the Indian utility vehicle market, considerably higher than the 58 percent it had in the year-ago period.

The Rs 10,000 crore Indian UV market sells around 2 lakh unit a year. "The three UV products at different price points have managed to create a niche for themselves," said Mr Malhotra. The M&M stock slipped 3 percent to close at Rs 894.20 in a falling Mumbai market on Tuesday.

Sales of M&M's Xylo, Bolero and Scorpio models have overtook Toyota's Innova, Tata's Sumo and Safari and Chevrolet Tavera last month. In October, Tata Motors saw a decline of 16 percent in the Sumo and Safari range at 2,454 units, the company said on Monday. Toyota Innova sold around 4,050 units, while Tavera's sale stood at around 1,000 units in October, according to industry estimates.

Analysts said M&M has always been keen to further consolidate its position in the UV market and that is why it has re-positioned the Scorpio and re-aligned pricing of its other two products earlier this year. The Xylo continues its strong run since its launch in January this year.

M&M's utility vehicle range also includes Commander (recently renamed Major) and Max, which retails in the taxi segment. The festive period of the past two months generated strong sales and has given the Indian automobile industry some respite from the sluggish performance of the last few months, said an analyst.

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