Maruti Suzuki has posted a moderate 4.4% growth in domestic volumes at 10.51 lakh units in 2012-13, on the back of depressed consumer sentiments due to slowing economic growth, high fuel prices and financing costs through the year.

Sluggish sales for the car market leader ? Maruti has around 40% market share ? reflects the condition of the rest of the industry this fiscal where other major rivals like Hyundai (-1.32% at 3.83 lakh) and Tata Motors (-29% at 2.22 lakh) have already posted a decline in sales.

Those that were able to beat the slowdown, such as Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar, were dependent on diesel models and utility vehicles.

?If not for diesel models of the Swift and Dzire and the new Ertiga MPV, even Maruti would have seen a drop in volumes. We do not expect an improvement till the second half of this fiscal,? an analyst said. This fiscal Maruti will look to increase its share of diesel car sales by investing over R2,000 crore in fresh diesel engine capacity and adding new diesel models.

For Maruti, March volumes were down 4.3% at 1.07 lakh units. Except Dzire and the Ertiga, sales fell in all sub-segments.

According to Icra, passenger vehicle sales are expected to rise by 2% in FY13, on the back of slower car sales which account for 55-60% of the total. Profitability of the industry will be impacted in the near term due to increases in wage costs, discounts and restricted pricing power in the wake of increased competition.

Bajaj Auto sales fall 10%

Bajaj Auto has reported a 10% year-on-year drop in motorcycle and commercial vehicle (CV) sales for March 2013 with the company selling 3.01 lakh units during the month.

Bajaj Auto’s motorcycle sales was down 11% to 2.67 lakh units in March while CV sales fell by 1% to 34,194 units. Exports, too, was down 6% to 1.01 lakh units for the same month.

Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, told a television channel that some recovery was expected during the festival season in April and the marriage season in May. But the year ahead was bumpy and challenging, he said. He was hopeful of achieving total volumes of close to fifty lakh in FY14.

Bajaj Auto has ended FY13 with total sales at 42.37 lakhs which is a 3% drop compared with the 43.49 lakhs it achieved in FY12. CV sales for the year was down by 7% to 4.80 lakh units while motorcycles dropped by 2% to 37.57 lakh units. Exports for FY13 fell 3%.

Many of the top brokerage firms had downgraded Bajaj Auto in March due to weakening demand, rising fuel prices and increase in competitive intensity. To arrest declining sales, Bajaj Auto has started offering interest subvention.

Arun Agarwal, auto analyst with Kotak Securities, said auto volumes in the month of March were not very different from the trend that had been witnessed in the past few months. “Overall weak economic growth continues to keep demand sentiment subdued. Most of the companies continue to report negative growth,? he said.

Hero MotoCorp reported very weak set of dispatch figures. TVS Motors, too, witnessed volume decline in March. ?Given lack of near term trigger, we expect volumes to stay weak in the near term. Over the medium term, factors such as monsoon and economic recovery will play a key role in reviving demand sentiments,? Agarwal said.

Ashok Leyland sales rise

Driven completely by its LCV Dost, commercial vehicles (CV) major and Hinduja flagship, Ashok Leyland, has for the first time reported an all-time high in sales of 114,612 vehicles for the fiscal ended March, a growth of 12% and gained a share of 3% during the year to touch 26.5% in a falling market.

The company has closed the year at 70,917 vehicles (81,545 vehicles) in the domestic market with a market share of 26.5%, translating into a gain of 3% in a falling M&HCV market. The company?s successful LCV Dost alone accounted for 34,917 units during the year under review (7,593 vehicles) and exports stood at 8,778 vehicles (12,852 vehicles) to push the overall sales to 114,612 vehicles (101,990) which is an all-time high.

Total sales during March 2013 was at 14,020 vehicles (14,266 vehicles), down 2%. Domestic sales declined sharply to 8,846 vehicles during the month against 10,450 units while exports, too, declined to 849 units against 1,605 vehicles. Dost reported a growth of 96% in March at 4,325 vehicles against 2,211 vehicles in March 2012, the company said here on Tuesday.

The total M&HCV sales during the year declined 16% to 79,695 units compared with 94,397 units in the previous fiscal of FY12 and for the March it reported a decline of 20% to 9,695 units as compared to 12,055 units sold in March 2012.

Meanwhile, Dost, the 2.5 tonne LCV, has completed one full year of operations clocking a sales volume of 34,917 numbers garnered from the 12 states it is presently sold in.

Riding on this success, the company has bagged healthy export orders from the SAARC markets for the vehicle.

“We set out to create a vehicle to meet the requirements of an evolving LCV customer in India and we are deeply appreciative of the overwhelming customer response to Dost,? said V Sumantran, vice-chairman, Ashok Leyland.