Indian auto makers log good sales growth in July

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI - Indian automobile manufacturers reported good sales numbers in July, gaining from higher incomes, low-cost loans and launches of new models, especially in the small car segment, in a growing economy.

The country’s largest auto maker, Maruti Suzuki India, posted a 29.18 percent increase in sales at 1,00,857 vehicles last month as against 78,074 for the like period of 2009.

“This is the second time in this fiscal that the company’s monthly sales figure has crossed 1 lakh mark. Domestic sales in July 2010 are also the highest ever domestic sales in a month,” it said in a statement.

The small cars giant reported a 1.9 percent rise in its exports which stood at 10,743 units, while the company’s sales volume in the domestic market grew by 33.4 percent.

Segment-wise, the company’s A2 cars which include brands like Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo Zen grew by 33.2 percent, while in the A3 that includes cars like D’zire and SX4 sales went up by 13.7 percent as compared to sales in the corresponding period of previous year.

Three Chennai-based car manufacturers- Hyundai, Ford and Nissan- also closed last month with good gains.

Hyundai Motor India, India’s second largest car maker, sold 50,411 units (domestic 28,811 units, exports 21,600 units) as against 45,539 units (domestic 23,193 units, exports 22,346 units) sold in July 2009.

While the company registered a 24 percent growth in domestic market, it suffered a 3.3 percent reverse in the exports during the period under review. The cumulative growth worked out to 10 percent.

The segment-wise cumulative sales for last month are as follows: A2 (Santro, i10 and i20) 44,522 units; A3 (Accent, Verna) 5,858 units; A5 (Sonata Transform) 31 units.

Driven by its new model Figo, Ford India closed last month selling 8,739 units up from 2,146 units sold in July 2009.

Ford India’s July sales is 20 percent higher than that of what it sold in June 2010. For the seven month period January-July this year, Ford India has sold 46,751 units. However the company did not share model-wise sales numbers.

General Motors too reported a robust upswing in sales at 7,124 units in July, up 45 percent from same month last year.

The increase in the sales was primarily driven by the Chevrolet Beat, Spark (both hatchbacks) and its sedan Cruze.

Nissan Motor India said it sold 1,005 units for July out of which 928 units were accounted by its new small car Micra and the balance comprised of Teana (27 units), X-trail (50 units).

During July 2009, the company had sold 25 units (Teana 17 units and X-trail 8 units).

Motocycle and three-wheeler makers Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor have also posted sales growth for July.

Bajaj’s total sales surged 65 percent to 318,415 units. Motorcycle sales soared 66 percent to 279,981 units while three-wheeler sales grew 60 percent to 38,634 units.

TVS’ total sales in July rose 35 percent to 163,106 units from 120,944 units. Two-wheeler sales went up 33 percent to 107,883 units while three-wheeler sales tripled to 3,108 units from 1,026 units a year earlier.

The country’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero Honda saw sales soaring 30.39 percent, compared to that in July 2009.

–Indo Asian News Service