Car sales gather steam in July

Carmakers registered buoyant sales of domestic passenger vehicles in July, owing to an improved buyer sentiment coupled with the reduction in fuel costs. The country’s top three automakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Honda demonstrated a classic case of strong getting stronger as they posted a year-on-year sales growth of 23 percent, 25 percent and 18 percent respectively (refer table).

Aiding Maruti Suzuki’s growth was its Dzire Tour compact sedan, which sold 3,370 units, a significant rise  from last year's 1,299 units. The carmaker’s best-selling duo, the Alto and the WagonR sold 37,752 units, a healthy increase of 31 percent. Moreover, the fact that Maruti is widely perceived as a trusted brand with an efficient after-dealer network has worked in the carmaker’s favour, especially in the current economic climate where customers prefer to play safe. Maruti Suzuki registered its highest sales in July since March 2012, which is commendable in a tough market as this.

Maruti is now gearing up to launch its S-Cross crossover in the country later this week to rival the Hyundai Creta, Renault Duster and Ford EcoSport. The carmaker will be banking on this upcoming offering, which will be sold via its premium Nexa showrooms, to further boost sales.

Fresh from the launch of its all-new Creta, the country’s second-largest carmaker Hyundai
registered sales of 36,500 units last month of which 6,783 units were of the new SUV. The Korean carmaker is confident of increasing its market share following an upbeat response to the Creta. According to a company spokesperson, Hyundai has received around 24,000 bookings for the SUV in the past month.

Japanese carmaker Honda posted a significant growth in sales to 18,606 units up 18 percent from the same period last year. The jump was largely due to sales of its recently launched Jazz, which touched 6,676 units in July.

Moreover, Honda remained ahead of Mahindra in third place for the second consecutive month, as the latter continued to witness a slowdown in its passenger vehicle sales. Mahindra registered a 13 percent decline in passenger vehicle sales to 14,456 units last month. Besides, with Honda’s supply constraints progressively clearing up, the carmaker will have more scope in the next few months and is likely to maintain a strong third position.

Toyota sales were largely flat with sales of 12,070 units in July 2015 compared to 11,921 units in July 2014, or just a 1 percent growth. On the other hand, Tata Motors saw its passenger car sales rise 13 percent to 10,389 units in July. The company says that growth was largely driven by the new Zest and Bolt and the recently launched GenX Nano.

European automaker Volkswagen sold 4,029 units in July, up 18 percent due to good customer response for the recently launched facelift Vento sedan.