For Indian carmakers, 2010 ended in a perfect way as they registered good sales in December. Be it Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor, Tata Motors or even Ford, all saw their sales figures going up, contrary to industry trends when sales usually drop in December as customers prefer to purchase cars in the beginning of the new calendar year.
India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL) reported over 17 per cent increase in its sales for December 2010 at 99,225 units. Its domestic sales stood at 89,469 units, a jump of 26.01 per cent from 71,000 units in December 2009, while its exports fell by 29.32 per cent to 9,756 units.
In the nine months of 2010-11 (April-December 2010), MSIL's total sales stood at over 9.27-lakh units against 7.30-lakh units, up by 26.91 per cent. Last fiscal, the company sold over 12-lakh units.
Similarly, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) ended 2010 on a high note with domestic sales growing by a healthy 23.1 per cent. However, its exports declined by 8.5 per cent. In December, it recorded 7.8 per cent growth at 47,228 units.
In 2010, HMIL sold over 6-lakh cars, first time in its history, where domestic sales stood at over 3.56-lakh units and exports were 2.47-lakh units
For Tata Motors, December 2010 brought good news as total passenger vehicles sales went up by over 34 per cent to 19,706 units. Sales of Nano also increased by 60 per cent to 5,784 units.
Similarly, riding on the success of its new compact car Figo, Ford recorded an impressive annual sales increase of 184 per cent in 2010 at 83,887, while in December sales were up 172 per cent as compared to December 2009. Sales of Figo continued to be strong with more than 60,000 units sold in India since its launch in March 2010.
Another U.S.-based company General Motors registered a marginal increase of 2.54 per cent in its December sales at 8,468 units.
However, in 2010, it sold a total of over 1.10-lakh units as compared to 69,579 units a year ago, a growth of 59.25 per cent.
Japan's Toyota, whose new sedan Etios has drawn tremendous response in India, saw sales grow over 5 per cent in December at 6,359 units. In 2010, it reported 37.63 per cent jump in its sales at 74,759 units
