Domestic car sales decline in November

Car makers suffered post-festive season pangs in November with major companies Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra reporting decline in domestic sales.

In an exception to the trend, Honda Cars India and Ford reported increase in sales during the month riding on their successful models Amaze and EcoSport respectively.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) posted a decline of 5.9 per cent in its domestic sales at 85,510 units during the month. While its mini passenger cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR grew by 3.7 per cent at 38,040 units, its compact cars comprising Swift, Estilo and Ritz declined by 24 per cent at 18,122 units in November.

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) saw its domestic sales down 3.6 per cent at 33,501 units during the month.

HMIL Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Rakesh Srivastava, said: “After the festival season, market has been sluggish due to unfavourable macro-economic factors and low market sentiments resulting lower customer enquiries.”

General Motors India reported 14.14 per cent decline in sales at 6,214 units in November 2013. The company had sold 7,238 units in November 2012. GM India Vice-President P Balendran said that the market continues to remain sluggish due to unfavorable economic conditions and the company does not expect any improvement in the coming months.

On the other hand, Honda Cars India reported over two-and-half fold increase in its domestic sales in November 2013 at 9,332 units as against 3,711 units in the same month last year.

Ford also said its domestic sales grew by 33 per cent to 7,909 units in last month.
Ford India Executive Director (Marketing, Sales and Service) Vinay Piparsania said: “We are happy that we continue to register steady sales growth despite persistent market challenges as Indian consumers respond enthusiastically to our smart, fuel-efficient and dependable vehicles.”

Yesterday, Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M) reported 22 per cent decline in its domestic sales at 36,261 units.

“Post the festive season month of October, auto industry has turned to further de-growth and continues to remain subdued. Unless some concrete measures are provided for its revival, we do not foresee any immediate turnaround,” M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Praveen Shah said.

Tata Motors’ domestic sales in November this year also slipped by over 40 per cent to 37,192 units in November, while that of Toyota Kirloskar Motor also dipped slightly to 10,208 units.