July was a mixed bag for the automobile industry with companies such as Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Ford posting an increase in domestic car sales during the month, while sales figures of other car makers, including Tata Motors, M&M, Toyota and General Motors, showing signs of struggle.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki India’s (MSI’s) domestic car sales grew 5.8 per cent in the last month to 75,145 units, on the back of increased sales of its mini segment cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, and compact sedan Dzire.
Driven by the success of its entry-level sedan Amaze, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) reported an over two-and-a-half fold increase in domestic sales in the month under review at 11,223 units.
“Honda Amaze has clocked its highest monthly sales of 6,515 units during July, and is maintaining very good growth momentum having sold more than 24,000 units sold since its launch,” HCIL Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said.
Ford India posted 26.15 per cent increase in sales to 7,867 units this July, against 6,236 units in the same month last year, helped by its new compact SUV EcoSport. Ford India Executive Director (Marketing, Sales and Service) Vinay Piparsania said: “Despite the near-term difficulty in the economy, our customers have put their trust in the urban SUV EcoSport and with the Figo ranking as the best premium compact car in the prestigious JD Power India vehicle dependability study 2013, we are delighted to achieve the highest-ever sales in our history this month.”
Renault India also reported two-fold increase in sales in July at 3,763 units from 1,776 units in the same period of previous year.
Sales figures of other car makers, however, continued to reflect the prolonged slump in the automobile market due to weak economic growth, rising fuel costs and low consumer sentiment.
Home-grown auto major Tata Motors’ total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 10,824 units in July, down 58.75 per cent. On similar lines, Mahindra & Mahindra's domestic sales fell 19.41 per cent at 34,490 units.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) reported a 20.98 per cent decline in July sales in the domestic market at 11,515 units, as compared to 14,574 units in the same month last year.
Similarly, GM India reported 10.73 per cent decline in sales at 6,503 units in July 2013, compared to 7,285 units in the same month last year.
Volkswagen India said its sales in July declined by 11.53 per cent to 4,739 units as against 5,357 units in the same month last year.
Two-wheeler segment
In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp reported a marginal rise in total sales at 4,87,545 units in July, while Chennai-based TVS Motor Co said its domestic two-wheeler sales were down 10.17 per cent at 1,26,531 units.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) reported 20.11 per cent growth in its total sales for July 2013 at 2,87,177 units.
Yamaha Motor India said its domestic sales grew 35 per cent at 37,494 units compared to 27,858 units in the year-ago month.