New Delhi/Chennai: Interest rates and fuel price hikes seem to have dampened
automobile sales in May, with leading players like Maruti Suzuki
and Hyundai reporting only marginal growth.
Indian car market leader Maruti Suzuki reported a 1.9 percent
increase in sales for May with 104,073 units sold, compared to
102,175 in the corresponding period of 2010.
Domestic sales registered a 3.86 percent growth at 93,519 vehicles
-- up from 90,041 last year, while exports fell by 13 percent with
10,554 cars sold in the month under review, compared to 12,134 in
May 2010.
Segment wise, the company's largest selling A2 compact car,
comprising of Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz, saw a
2.6 percent drop in sales with 61,048 units sold.
Hyundai Motors, the country's second largest car maker, saw its
overall sales growing marginally in May at two percent due to weak
exports.
According to the Chennai-based company, the sales were affected in
the first quarter of the year due to increase in interest rates
and fuel prices among other factors like appreciating input costs.
However, the company's domestic market sales were boosted by 14.6
percent to 31,123 units as against 27,151 units in May 2010, due
to the success of its recently launched sedan - Fluidic Verna.
Exports fell by 15 percent to 16,643 units in May as against
19,657 units in the corresponding month last year.
Segment-wise, cumulative sales for last month was led by the
company's best-selling A2 segment cars like Santro, i10, i20 at
40,520 units, which was followed by the A3 sedan segment cars
comprising of Accent and Verna at 7,110 units.
Meanwhile, American auto major General Motors' Indian subsidiary
reported an increase of 1.3 percent in sales for May at 8,329
units as compared to 8,225 units in the like period of 2010.
"Given the hike in interest rates, fuel prices, commodity prices,
inflation, we expect the market to remain depressed in the coming
months as well," said GM India vice president P. Balendran, adding
that even enquiries at the company's showrooms have come down.
Japanese car manufacturer Honda Siel Cars India's (HSCI) sales
were dented with a decrease of 42.61 percent in May's sales which
stood at 2,334 units as against 4,067 units sold in May last year.
However, compact car Figo contributed majorly to an 11.38 percent
increase in overall sales of Ford's Indian subsidiary which sold
more than 9,000 units in May as against the overall sales of 8,080
units in the like period of 2010.
But the sliver lining in automobile sales came from two-wheeler
and three-wheeler segments where major players like Hero Honda and
TVS came out with robust sales figures.
World's largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero Honda reported an
increase of 15 percent in its sales for May which stood at 500,234
units as compared to 435,933 units in the like period of 2010.
"We have crossed one million sales mark in the very first two
months of this fiscal," said Anil Dua, senior vice-president,
marketing, Hero Honda Motors Ltd, adding that the company was well
on its course towards achieving over six million sales unit in
this fiscal.
Meanwhile, TVS Motor attributed its 18 percent sales growth in
last month to increase in exports and motorcycle sales.
In a statement, the company said that its total sales last month
stood at 185,930 units, as against 156,980 units in May 2010.
Segment wise, the company's sales were led by its two-wheeler
product line-up with sales reaching 181,891 units in May as
compared to 154,667 units sold in May 2010. The three-wheeler
sales grew to 4,039 units, compared to 2,313 units in May last
year.
Exports for the month under review grew at 42 percent and stood at
26,168 units as against 18,482 units in May 2010.
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