Passenger vehicle sales muted in January

For the automotive industry in India, the year 2016 started on a subdued note as the passenger vehicle segment largely witnessed a slowdown in sales. While Honda, Tata Motors and Toyota witnessed a de-growth in passenger vehicle sales, country’s largest player, Maruti Suzuki, which holds the largest share of over 47 percent reported marginal growth. Hyundai and Mahindra, however, bucked the trend as they witnessed increase in sales.

Maruti Suzuki sold a total of 106,383 units in January 2016, up 0.78 percent as against 105,559 units a year ago. The carmaker said overall production and dispatches were hit due to lesser number of working days during the month.

Sales of the company’s compact car models such as the Swift hatch, Dzire sedan and Celerio declined 2.8 percent, sales in the mini segment comprising Alto and Wagon R declined 4.3 percent and the mid-size segment (Ciaz) slipped by 9.6 percent on year.

However, sales of its utility vehicles including the Gypsy, Ertiga and S-Cross together sold 8,114 units, up 26.2 percent and the Omni and Eeco vans cumulatively sold 10,512 units, up 3.9 percent.

Country’s second largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor India registered domestic sales of 38,016 units in January, a growth of 9.30 percent on-year. “The growth momentum of last year has continued, built by the strong performance of products like the Grand i10, Creta and i20 Elite/Active,” Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Hyundai Motor India, said commenting on the sales performance.

The passenger vehicles segment of homegrown carmaker, Mahindra & Mahindra, witnessed a strong revival in volumes at it registered sales of 22,088 units in January 2016, up 12.85 percent from 19,573 units sold last year. The carmaker last month launched a downsized 1.99-litre version of its mHawk diesel engine, which will be first available on the XUV500 and Scorpio to counter the ban. M&M was severely hit by the Supreme Court’s ban on registration of large diesel cars and SUVs in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) since the ruling affected the XUV500, Bolero, Scorpio and Thar among other vehicles.

The auto industry is hopeful that the upcoming Union Budget has significant incentives for the automotive industry, enabling it to post sustainable growth in times to come, according to Pravin Shah, president & chief executive, Automotive, M&M.

Honda Cars India reported monthly domestic sales of 17,135 units as against 18,331 units last year, down 6.5 percent year-on-year. The popular City was the best-seller with 8,037 units, followed by the Jazz (4,709), Amaze (3,471), Mobilio (441), Brio (396) and the CR-V (81).

Passenger vehicles sales at Tata Motors stood at 10,728 units, down 17.77 percent, compared to 13,047 units last year. The carmaker recently announced that its soon-to-be-launched hatchback, the Zica, will be given a new name. The name ‘Zica’ in Tata parlance stands for ‘ZIppy CAr’, but the company elected to change the car’s name in light of the devastating ‘Zika’ virus outbreak spreading across many countries in Latin America.

Toyota sold a total of 8,511 units in the domestic market in January 2016, down 32.72 percent down from the 12,650 units sold during the same month last year. Commenting on the monthly sales, N Raja, director and senior vice-president, Sales & Marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “Our monthly sales have been affected and part of it is a repercussion of the recent ban on registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity of more than 2,000cc in Delhi & NCR.”

Volkswagen India recorded sales of 4,018 units last month, up 7.61 percent from 3,734 units on year, mostly due to an upbeat response to the Polo, Vento as well as the Jetta.

The highest growth among all carmakers was witnessed by Renault India, which saw volumes surge 151 percent to 8,031 units in January 2016 as against 3,203 units last year due to a high demand for the Kwid hatchback. The carmaker is reportedly planning to ramp up production at its Chennai plant in the near term to nearly 10,000 units a month in order to meet the growing demand for the hatchback.