Major car manufacturers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Honda and Mahindra & Mahindra, on Tuesday posted positive growth in domestic sales for June, driven by reduction in prices and positive consumer sentiment post excise duty cuts.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki India said its domestic sales increased 31 per cent in June to 1.01 lakh units, on the back of higher sales in the mini segment cars that includes M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR. Sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo and Ritz also grew 6.2 per cent to 22,293 units.
Hyundai Motor India too posted a 9.5 per cent increase in its domestic sales at 33,514 units. The company’s Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing), Rakesh Srivastava, said the growth in the domestic sales had been due to the success of Xcent, Grand and Santa Fe. With the extension of excise duty benefit, they hoped to maintain the growth in volume, he added.
Likewise, Ford India registered an increase of 1.58 per cent to 7,258 units in domestic sales. “The government’s decision to extend the excise duty concession is a welcome move and will certainly uplift consumer purchasing sentiments as we head into the festive season over the next few months,” Ford India Executive Director (Marketing, Sales and Service) Vinay Piparsania said. In the interim budget in February, the government had provided for a cut in excise duty to give a boost to declining sales till June 30. Last week, it was decided to extend reduced excise rates on automobiles till December 31.
Honda Cars India reported a big jump of 75 per cent in domestic sales at 16,316 units, while Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported a 9 per cent increase in domestic sales at 12,010 units.
Mahindra & Mahindra’s domestic sales rose marginally to 36,457 units.
“We have achieved a marginal growth in our sales in June 2014 and do hope that the auto industry will continue to stay in a positive zone,” M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said.
The recent announcement by the government of an extension in the lowering of excise duty would provide a fillip leading up to the festive season, he added. On the other hand, some auto makers such as General Motors India and Tata Motors reported a decline in their domestic sales during June.
General Motors India’s sales declined 21.33 per cent to 5,172 units. The company’s Vice President, P. Balendran, said, “Customer sentiment continues to remain negative even with price reduction on account of the continuation of the excise duty cuts till the end of this year.” Going by the market scenario, the company expected the challenging times to continue as the general economic conditions had not improved, he added.
Tata Motors too posted a 29 per cent decline in domestic sales (commercial and passenger vehicles) at 34,743 units as compared to 48,716 units in the same month in the previous year. Its passenger vehicles sales in June were down 33 per cent at 7,911 units.
In the two-wheeler segment, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India reported a 28.29 per cent rise in total sales at 3,23,224 units in June, while Yamaha reported a 14.35 per cent increase in domestic two-wheeler sales at 40,666 units.
