With the festive season around the corner, car sales showed signs of marginal turnaround in September after declining for four months. Hyundai Motor and Mahindra & Mahindra reported record sales during the month.
The main casualty was, however, the country?s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, which reported a 17.2% drop in domestic sales in September to 78,816 units. While the company?s production of marquee brands such as SX4, Swift and A Star at Manesar were severely crippled owing to the month-long labour stir, sales of other Maruti models, including Alto and WagonR, which are manufactured in Gurgaon, also reported lower sales. The company had sold 95,148 units during September last year.
?The disruption in production owing to the labour issue at the company?s Manesar plant during September adversely impacted the sales numbers during the month. The Swift, SX4 and A-star are manufactured at the Manesar plant,? the company said in a statement. The combined sales of WagonR, Alto and A Star declined 23.5% to 37,324 units as compared to 48,780 units in the corresponding month last year. Total exports also dropped over 17% to 6,749 units as against 12,858 units in September 2010.
South Korean subsidiary firm Hyundai Motor India grew 13.2% in September to 35,955 units as compared to 31,756 units in the corresponding month last year. The company is banking on increasing its sales with the launch of its smallest car in India till date ? Eon. The company opened bookings for the car on Saturday. ?We will launch our much awaited compact car Eon this month. In spite of a sluggish market we expect Eon to boost our sales and increase market share,? director (sales & marketing) Hyundai Motor India Arvind Saxena said. The company?s exports also showed a healthy growth of 11% to 21,853 units as against 19,688 units last year.
After months of fledgling sales Tata Motors reported an over 10% growth to 26,319 units as compared to 23,877 units in September last year. Though Nano?s sales declined 47% during the month to 2,936 units, Tata Indica recorded 64% jump in numbers to 10,282 units during the month.
Utility major Mahindra & Mahindra reported a near 11% growth in sales of its utility products and the Verito sedan at 19,447 units as compared to 17,537 units in the corresponding month last year. In the first half of the fiscal (April-September), the company reported sales growth of 28% to 2,23,451 units.
The company has just launched its global SUV ? XUV 500. M&M expects the product to increase its sales in urban and metros. ?We are also very excited with the initial response to our global SUV – XUV5OO and do hope to further consolidate our position in the SUV market with this launch,? said chief executive (automotive) and board member of M&M Rajesh Jejurikar.
On the back of the launch of its first small car in India Liva and competitively priced sedan Etios, Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported an over two-fold jump in sales to 12, 807 units as compared to 6,235 units in the corresponding month last year.
?We have registered a growth of 105% in September sales. This growth can be attributed to the sales of Etios and Etios Liva clocking a total of 5926 units,? said deputy managing director (marketing) TKM Sandeep Singh.
General Motors sales grew 17 % to 10,112 units in September 2011 against 8,617 units sold in September 2010. Meanwhile Chennai-based TVS Motor Company reported 16% growth in sales to 1.92 lakh units during the month as against 1.65 lakh units in September 2010.