High interest rates and inflation worries continue to impact carmakers as August sales declined for the second consecutive month by over 10 per cent.
Domestic passenger car sales stood over 1.44-lakh units in August against 1.60-lakh units in the same month last year, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said while releasing latest figures.
“High interest rates continued to be a big problem for the industry and it is impacting the cost of finance for both companies and customers. But we hope that the forthcoming festive season and good monsoon will help bring a turnaround in car sales,” said SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur. Domestic passenger car sales had fallen for the first time after 30 months of continuous growth till July.
In August this year, Maruti Suzuki sales declined by 19.21 per cent to 63,296 units from 78,351 units in the same month last year. India's largest carmaker is currently facing labour issues at its Manesar plant where production has been impacted.
Similarly, Hyundai Motors posted a 7.51 per cent decline in sales to 26,451 units in August from 28,601 units, while Tata Motors reported a 39.45 per cent drop in sales at 13,508 units against 22,312 units in the same period last year.
However, motorcycle sales grew by 15.43 per cent during the month under reference to over 8.39-lakh units from 7.27-lakh units.
Hero Moto Corp (earlier Hero Honda) posted a 19.56 per cent rise in sales to 4.62-lakh units from 3.86-lah units, while Bajaj Auto sales went up by 8.10 per cent to 2.26-lakh units from 2.09-lakh in August last year.
