December 2014 saw car sales boom

While the last month of every year generally witnesses dealerships handing out discounts, benefits and special schemes, trying to push out the crop of current model year cars, December 2014 was markedly different. While the buyer benefits were still on offer, incentives didn't seem to be the decisive factor in drawing customers to the showrooms. With news of the government discontinuing excise duty sops filtering in and some carmakers even announcing expected price hikes in the range of 4-6 percent from January, dealerships saw a rush of buyers.

While the entire industry sales data for December will be available later this month, some automakers have already revealed their numbers for the month.

Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest carmaker, has sold a total of 11,52,128 cars in 2014, up 8.29 percent over sales in 2013 (10,63,964), its highest ever in a calendar year before this. In December 2014, the company posted an overall sales increase of 13.3 percent with sales of 98,109 units (December 2013: 86,613). Its passenger cars notched a growth of 11.5 percent, with 81,564 cars going home to new buyers (December 2013: 73,155). While the Alto and Wagon R saw a dip of 9.6 percent and sales of 34,625 units (December 2013: 38,286), the quartet of compact cars (Swift, Ritz, Celerio and Dzire) saw handsome growth of 23 percent on sales of 41,532 units (December 2013: 33,766), with the AMT-equipped Celerio clearly driving up volumes in this segment. The Celerio continues to have a waiting period of 14-odd weeks for delivery. The premium Ciaz sedan, which was launched in October 2014, sold the bulk of the 3,731 units recorded in the mid-size segment (along with the outgoing SX4) and has a waiting period of 2-3 months. Meanwhile, of Maruti’s UVs, the Ertiga and the Gypsy together sold 5,774 units (December 2013: 5,146), up 12.2 percent year on year. On the vans front, Maruti sold a total of 10,771 units, up 29.6 percent (December 2013: 8.312), proving that demand for the Omni and Eeco continues to be there, particularly in Tier II and III towns.

Hyundai Motor India recorded domestic sales of 32,504 units last month, up 14.7 percent (December 2013: 28,345). Commenting on the December sales, Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), HMIL, said, “In the challenging market conditions of CY 2014, Hyundai did an all-time record high sales of 4.11 lakh units with all-time high projected market share of 21.8 percent in passenger cars.”

Mahindra & Mahindra’s passenger vehicles division (which includes utility vehicles and the Verito) sold a total of 17,311 units in December 2014, registering a growth of 5 percent (December 2013: 16,436). Speaking on the monthly sales, Pravin Shah, chief executive, automotive division & international operations (AFS), M&M, said : “We are happy to have achieved a growth of 5 percent for our passenger vehicle segment in December with 2014 being an immensely challenging year for the auto industry. The industry, which was showing early signs of recovery, would however be severely impacted by the withdrawal of the excise duty concessional rate which would affect overall business sentiment, as it will lead to an increase in vehicle prices. At Mahindra, we continue to remain optimistic going forward on the back of our new product launches during 2015”.  

Meanwhile, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) sold 11,740 units in December 2014, posting a growth of 10 percent (December 2013: 10, 648). It also exported 1,888 units of the Etios series in the month.