Major car makers post healthy sales growth in July

Car sales in India witnessed an upward swing in July with major companies, including market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors and Honda, posting healthy double-digit growth riding on improving sentiments and launch of new models.

Maruti Suzuki said its domestic sales increased by 22.5 per cent last month to 1,10,405 units, as against 90,093 units in July last year.

Its sales were driven mainly by mini segment cars, including Alto and WagonR, which saw 31.3 per cent jump to 37,752 units compared with 28,759 units in the year-ago period, MSI said in a statement.

Sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire, rose 13.9 per cent to 48,381 units in July this year as against 42,491 units last year.

Rival Hyundai Motor India saw its domestic sales growing by 24.7 per cent at 36,500 units last month as compared with 29,275 units in July 2014 riding on newly launched SUV Creta, i20 Active and Elite i20 models.

Homegrown Tata Motors saw its passenger cars sales in July, 2015 rising by 27.1 per cent at 8,520 units as compared to 6,703 units in July, 2014.

"The growth trend was driven by the cars segment, specifically the new launches of Zest, Bolt and the new GenX Nano," the company said.

Honda Cars India also reported 18.44 per cent cent increase in domestic sales at 18,606 units in July as against 15,709 units in the same month last year.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 12,070 units in the domestic market in July 2015 as compared to 11,921 units, up 1.24 per cent.

Utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra, however, saw its domestic sales down by 6 per cent to 31,087 units last month as against 33,047 units in the same month of last year.

Commenting on the outlook, M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said: "While the auto industry is currently seeing muted growth, we do believe that the launch of some exciting new products will help it turn the tide."

In addition, with the advent of a good monsoon till date and reduction in fuel prices, the company expects sentiments to improve, leading to overall growth in auto sales, he added.

In the two-wheeler segment, the country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp reported 7.97 per cent decline in sales at 4,87,580 units in July. It had sold 5,29,862 units in the same month last year.

Rival Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India saw its total sales growing by 2.15 per cent at 3,89,626 units as against 3,81,411 units in the same month last year.