Raises hopes of turnaround

The outlook seems challenging as now there is low traction in the market with weak delivery on macroeconomic parameters

April 01, 2015 08:58 pm | Updated April 02, 2015 02:25 am IST - NEW DELHI

On the 2015 outlook, Mr. Srivastava said, “The 2015 outlook seems challenging as currently there is low traction in the market with weak delivery on macro-economic parameters and on low customer’s sentiments.” File photo

On the 2015 outlook, Mr. Srivastava said, “The 2015 outlook seems challenging as currently there is low traction in the market with weak delivery on macro-economic parameters and on low customer’s sentiments.” File photo

Car makers closed the year 2014-15 on a positive note with manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor and Honda Cars registering highest ever domestic sales during a financial year. This has raised hopes of a positive growth in the segment during last 12 months, after two years of decline.

Country’s largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki’s domestic sales grew by 11 per cent to 11,70,702 units in the last fiscal over 2013-14, the highest ever for the company. During March 2015, the sales rose 1.4 per cent to 1, 03,719 compared to the same month year-ago.

 “When the industry grew by around four per cent, we grew by 11 per cent in FY15. While new models have played a significant role in the challenging environment but our efforts to expand our network both in rural and urban areas have paid off,” Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director Marketing & Sales R.S. Kalsi said.

 Rival Hyundai too registered a growth of nearly 11 per cent to post highest ever financial year sales of 4, 20,688 units in 2014-15. The company’s senior VP (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava attributed the growth to strong performance of new models like Elite, i20 Active, Xcent and Verna. In March 2015, Hyundai sold 39,525 units, up 12.9 per cent from the year-ago period.

On the 2015 outlook, Mr. Srivastava said, “The 2015 outlook seems challenging as currently there is low traction in the market with weak delivery on macro-economic parameters and on low customer’s sentiments.”

 Honda Cars posted its highest ever annual domestic sales of 189,062 units during FY15 recording 41 per cent growth over pervious financial year. For March 2015 too the company registered highest ever monthly domestic sales of 22,696 units, up 23 per cent from same month last year.

 “The fiscal 2014-2015 has been extremely fruitful for Honda Cars India,” the company’s Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said, adding the new Honda City saw over 1 lakh sales in record 15 months.

 On the other hand, Mahindra and Mahindra saw a decline of 9 per cent in domestic sales to 4, 34,652 units. For the last month, sales declined by 15 per cent to 41,193 units.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said, “With factors such as expectation of normal monsoon, settling down of petrol and diesel prices and the likely softening of interest rates, we expect the auto industry to perform better in FY16. At Mahindra, while we have performed reasonably well on all our flagship products.”

Likewise, Tata Motors said cumulative sales of passenger vehicles in the domestic market stood at 1,34,080 units in FY15, lower by 3 per cent over previous year, while sales in March stood at 15,039 units, up 19 per cent year-on-year.

 Both Ford India and General Motors released sales figures for only March 2015. While Ford India's domestic sales were down 17.35 per cent at 5,253 units, General Motors reported 35.5 per cent decline in sales at 4,257 units during the month.

 

In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp sold record 66, 31,826 units for the financial year ended March 31, 2015, an increase of 6.2 per cent year-on-year. In March 2015, it posted 1.47 per cent growth in sales at 5, 31,750 units.

 

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s sale grew nearly 20 per cent during the last fiscal to 42, 63,751 units, while during March its sales grew 1.81 per cent at 3,99,178 units.

 

Chennai-based TVS Motor Co said domestic two wheeler sales grew from 165,482 units in March 2014 to 167,428 units in March 2015.

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