Car makers Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India posted single digit growth in their domestic sales in December but other companies failed to beat the year-end blues.
However, reflecting the prolonged slump in the Indian automobile sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ford India, Toyota Kirloskar and General Motors India reported decline.
Maruti said its domestic sales during December 2013 stood at 86,613 units, up 5.5 per cent from 82,073 units in December of the previous year.
The growth was mainly on account of sales of mini passenger cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, which were up 16.7 per cent at 38,286 units, as against 32,797 units in the year-ago period. Hyundai Motor India Ltd reported 6.24 per cent increase in domestic sales at 28,345 units during the month from 26,697 units in December 2012.
HMIL Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Rakesh Srivastava, said: “Year 2013 was very challenging and rewarding... Manufacturing operated at 99 per cent capacity utilisation and had the fastest 5 million roll-out in India.”
M&M domestic sales stood at 36,881 units as against 42,307 in the same month previous year, down 12.82 per cent. Ford India’s domestic sales were down 9.9 per cent to 5,871 units in December as against 6,517 units, y-o-y.
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