The first month of 2014 turned out to be mixed one for the domestic automobile industry, with car makers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motor posting decline in sales, while Honda Cars and Ford reported good growth.
Market Leader Maruti Suzuki India’s domestic sales declined by 6.3 per cent to 96,569 units in January from 1.03 lakh units in the same month in 2013, it said in a statement.
While the sales of the company’s mini segment cars slipped by 17 per cent, sales of its utility vehicles fell by 21.9 per cent.
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Hyundai Motor India too reported a 2.6 per cent fall in domestic sales at 33,405 units against 34,302 units in January 2013, while Mahindra & Mahindra’s domestic sales stood at 40,324 units, down 15.71 per cent year-on-year.
“The first month of 2014 did not witness any improvement in the overall industry performance, and the situation remains subdued,’’ M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said in a statement.
The recent repo rate hike would escalate the rate of interest on car loan in the coming months, impacting customer sentiment, he added. Likewise, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) reported 18.14 per cent fall in its domestic sales at 10,910 units in January.
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“The market continues to be sluggish, and the market sentiment remains low,’’ TKM Senior Vice- President (Sales and Marketing) N. Raja said.
Honda cars Tata Motors too reported a 34 per cent drop in total vehicle sales to 40,481 units in January.
On the other hand, Honda Cars India posted nearly three-fold rise in its domestic sales at 15,714 units in January on the back of the success of the latest Honda City and Honda Amaze.
“We have received an overwhelming response to all new Honda City and Honda Amaze continues to do strong sales,’’ Honda Cars India Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said.
Ford India too posted a 10.62 per cent rise in domestic sales at 6,706 units during the month as against 6,062 units in the same month of the previous year.
Two-wheelers For two-wheeler makers, the month was a good one with Yamaha Motor India, TVS Motor Company and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) posting growth.
Yamaha Motor India’s domestic sales grew by 6.5 per cent to 31,721 units last month, while TVS Motor Company’s domestic two-wheeler sales rose to 1.56 lakh units in January from 1,54,107 units in the same month last year.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India said it registered a growth of 49.69 per cent in total sales at 3.45 lakh units during the month under review. While motorcycle sales were up 37 per cent, scooter sales rose by 63 per cent, it added.