Maruti, Ford rev up in July; Tata, GM sputter

Car makers Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Ford reported increase in July sales, while others including Tata Motors, Toyota and General Motors continued to struggle.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) managed to grow on the back of increased sales of its mini segment cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, and compact sedan Dzire.
Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) rode on the success of its new entry level sedan Amaze.
Ford India posted its best ever monthly sales, courtesy its new compact SUV EcoSport.

MSI said its domestic sales grew by 5.8 per cent during the month to 75,145 units, from 71,024 units in July last year. The mini segment car sales grew by 15.8 per cent to 33,587 units, and Dzire, 33.6 per cent at 15,249 units.

HCIL reported over two and half-fold increase in its domestic sales for July 2013 at 11,223 units.

"Honda Amaze has clocked its highest monthly sales of 6,515 units during July 2013 and is maintaining very good growth momentum having sold more than 24,000 units sold since its launch," HCIL Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said.

Ford India also had a memorable month with its domestic sales going up by 26.15 per cent to 7,867 units in July this year, as against 6,236 units in the same month last year.

Ford India Executive Director, (Marketing, Sales and Service) Vinay Piparsania said: "Despite the near-term difficulty in the economy, our customers have put their trust in the urban SUV EcoSport and with the Figo ranking as the best premium compact car in the prestigious JD Power India vehicle dependability study 2013, we are delighted to achieve the highest-ever sales in our history this month."

Renault India also reported two-fold increase in sales in July at 3,763 units from 1,776 units in the same period of previous year.

Other car makers, however, continued to struggle in a market which has been on a prolonged slump due to weak economic growth, rising fuel costs and low consumer sentiment.

Homegrown auto major Tata Motors' total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 10,824 units in July, down 58.75 per cent from 26,240 units a year-ago.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) reported 20.98 per cent decline in July sales in the domestic market at 11,515 units, as compared to 14,574 units in the same month last year.

"Market continues to be sluggish and it seems that we are heading for tougher times in view of the current market outlook," TKM Deputy Managing Director and COO (Marketing and Commercial) Sandeep Singh said.

Similarly, GM India reported 10.73 per cent decline in sales at 6,503 units in July 2013, compared to 7,285 units in the same month last year.

"The market also continues to remain subdued due to high fuel prices, high interest rates, various other structural bottlenecks and macroeconomic uncertainties," GM India Vice-President P Balendran said.

Volkswagen India said its sales in July declined by 11.53 per cent to 4,739 units as against 5,357 units in the same month last year.

In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp reported a marginal rise in total sales at 4,87,545 units in July, as against 4,84,217 units a year ago.

Chennai-based TVS Motor Co said its domestic two-wheeler sales were down 10.17 per cent at 1,26,531 units, as against 1,40,862 units in July 2012.

Motorcycles sales, however, grew by 8.49 per cent to 57,886 units in July, while scooters registered sales declined by 9.76 per cent to 36,900 units.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) reported 20.11 per cent growth in its total sales for July 2013 at 2,87,177 units. Yamaha Motor India said its domestic sales grew 35 per cent at 37,494 units compared to 27,858 units in the year-ago month.