Pune: Carmakers in India continued to report good sales for the third straight month of 2015 even as they battled high interest rates and lacklustre consumer interest. The cheer for March was, however, marred by the sales performance of market leader Maruti, which sells one in every two cars bought in the country, remaining mute. Major carmakers such as Hyundai, Honda, Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar and Volkswagen, which posted double-digit sales last month, brought cheer to the industry, indicating a recovery and growth ahead.
However, Mahindra and Mahindra, India’s largest utility vehicle maker by sales, General Motor India and Ford India saw decline in sales owing to the absence of new models. Domestic car sales had risen 3.14 per cent in January and 6.85 per cent in February this year. Hyundai Motor India’s sales increased 12.9 per cent to 39,525 units last month, up from 35,003 units sold in the same period last year. “In a market with weak sentiments, Hyundai achieved its highest-ever single month sales of 39,525 units with highest-ever financial year sales of 4,20,668 units,” said Rakesh Srivastava, senior V-P - sales and marketing, Hyundai Motor India.
Said Rakesh the market share of 16.3 per cent was the highest-ever with strong performance of new models like Elite, i20 Active, Xcent and Verna, lead by strong marketing initiatives in rural markets and demand from repeat buyers. But the 2015 outlook seems challenging as currently there is low traction in the market with weak delivery on macro-economic parameters and low customer sentiment, Srivastava cautioned. “We are hopeful that an environment will be created to bring-in investment and create employment that will give the required thrust to grow the industry,” he said.
Sales at its rival Honda Cars India, which overtook Mahindra and Mahindra in performance ranking, soared 23 per cent to 22,696 units, up from 18,426 units it sold last year. It also posted its highest-ever annual domestic sales of 189,062 units during 2014-15, recording a 40.74 per cent growth, up from 134,339 units in the previous year. “We received great response for Mobilio and the new Honda City achieved exceptional success. We are excited about the upcoming launch of the Jazz in the new fiscal and look forward to another year of good growth,” Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president, marketing & sales at Honda Cars India, said.
Sales at Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile by sales, also continued to rise at 19 per cent at 15,039 units, up from 12,640 units it sold in the same month last year. While passenger cars sold 12,977 units, higher by 33 per cent, over March 2014, UV sales declined by 28 per cent, at 2,062 units, in March 2015. Sales at Toyota Kirloskar Motor jumped 62 per cent at 13,333, up from 8,206 cars it sold in the domestic market during the same month last year. For the fiscal year 2014-15, as per SIAM sales data, the carmaker has delivered a total of 141,887 units, clocking 10.15 per cent growth (FY2013-14: 128,811).
Significantly, March 2015 is the fifth consecutive month that the company has clocked double-digit growth. “With the launch of the new Corolla Altis, Etios , Etios Liva and Etios Cross in 2014 and new Innova and Fortuner in 2015, we saw an increased acceptance from customers which continues to grow month after month,” said N Raja, director and senior vice-president, sales and marketing at Toyota Kirloskar Motor. He said the Corolla Altis, Innova and Fortuner continued to maintain leadership position in their respective segments.
Sales at Volkswagen Passenger Cars India also jumped 22 per cent last month, driven mainly by Polo, at 4,577 units, up from 3,741 units it sold in the same period last year. “The increase in sales underlines the fact that car buyers in India are increasingly appreciative of the key attributes of our cars, which are best-in-class safety, build quality and driving dynamics, which makes our cars very involving to drive,” said Michael Mayer, director at Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India.
Sales at Maruti Suzuki declined 0.3 per cent year-on-year to 85,733 units, hit by lower compact car sales and flat growth in mini cars business. Sales at Mahindra and Mahindra also fell 10 per cent at 21,030 units from an off-take of 23,433 in the corresponding month of 2014.
