Auto companies are on a slow but sustainable recovery path if the latest sales numbers are anything to go by. While the country?s largest car maker , Maruti Suzuki India, registered a 27.6% jump in domestic sales in July, Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), which recently forayed into the compact car category with its premium small car Jazz, posted a growth of 12% in sales last month. Mahindra & Mahindra, meanwhile, saw an almost 27% jump in y-o-y sales in July.
Though industry body Siam is yet to release the sales numbers, it is expected that the overall passenger car industry will see positive growth for the seventh consecutive month in July as well.
Driving on the back of huge demand for its recently launched A-Star and Ritz in the compact car segment and Swift Dzire in the A3 or the sedan segment, Maruti Suzuki reported sales of 67,528 units in July as against 52,911 units during the same month last year. In fact, the company registered its highest-ever monthly sales in the A3 segment, which comprises Swift Dzire and SX4, at 9,101 units in July 2009 as against 6,009 units in July 2008, a growth of 51.5%. Honda Siel Cars registered sales of 4,857 units last month vis-?-vis 4,337 units in July 2008.
However, while Maruti has also seen a 9.3% increase in demand on a month-on-month basis as the company sold 61,773 units in June, sales of HSCI declined in July vis-?-vis 5,039 units sold by the company in June.
Total July domestic sales volumes (including joint ventures) of Mahindra & Mahindra rose to 21,957 units, as against 17,302 units clocked in July 2008. Total sales of utility vehicles in July, including Scorpio, Bolero, Xylo and pick-up, stands at 16,688 as against 10,672 in the same period last year, a growth of 56.4%. The company sold 22,463 vehicles (domestic and exports) in July 2009, as against 18,407 vehicles sold in July 2008.
?With banks coming back into the market and auto loans at comparatively lower rate of interest vis-?-vis last few months and the economy on a revival mode, people are getting attracted by the series of new launches since January and therefore the increase in demand,? said a Mumbai-based analyst. The two-wheeler industry also continued to maintain its growth trajectory in July with industry leader Hero Honda Motors witnessing a growth of 30.4% in total sales last month at 3,66,808 units as against 2,81,317 units during the same period last year.
While Chennai-based TVS Motors saw a marginal 2% increase in sales at 1,20,994 units as compared to 1,18,545 units in July 2008, its closest competitor, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, saw a 32% surge in sales at 1,12,855 units in July vis-?-vis 85,343 units during the corresponding month last year.
Even smaller players like India Yamaha Motors and Suzuki Motorcycle India posted an increase of 47% and 20%, respectively, in July. Yamaha Motor sold 17,316 units in July as compared to 11,792 units in July last year and sales of Suzuki Motorcycle India stood at 12,585 unit vis-?-vis 10,457 units in July 2008.
