Car sales drop 7.59% in Jan

Car sales in India fell for the fourth straight month in January this year with a decline of 7.59 per cent, prompting industry body SIAM to seek government support in the interim Budget.

According to data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic car sales were 1,60,289 units in January this year compared to 1,73,449 vehicles in the same month of 2013.

Compounding the problem for the auto industry was the prolonged slump in the commercial vehicles (CV) segment, under which heavy and medium CVs saw 23rd month of consecutive drop in sales.

“We have huge hope from the government that in the vote-on-account Budget, there will be some support for the auto industry,” SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen said at the Auto Expo.

Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel has already written to the Finance Mnistry seeking reduction in excise duty on CVs to 8 per cent from 12 per cent.

At present, automobiles attract excise duty ranging from 12-30 per cent, Sen said.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India in January posted 6.88 per cent decline in its domestic sales at 82,461 units as against 88,557 in the same month last year.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd also posted 2.61 per cent dip in sales during the month at 33,351 units as compared to 34,247 vehicles in January last year. Tata Motors saw sales decline 24.38 per cent to 8,463 units in January from 11,192 in the same month last year. Honda Cars India, however, saw sales increase nearly three-fold to 15,597 units in the month from 5,421 in January 2013.

Bike sales up 4%

Motorcycle sales in January grew by 4.04 per cent to 9,22,323 units from 8,86,521 in the same month last year.

Market leader Hero MotoCorp saw its domestic bike sales decline marginally to 4,89,322 units in January from 4,94,109 in the year-ago month. Rival Bajaj Auto’s sales declined by 14.36 per cent to 1,67,869 units from 1,96,023 in the same month last year.