Maruti, M&M report rise in sales in September; others dip

The build-up to the festive season failed to lift sales of top car companies in September with only Maruti Suzuki   and Mahindra & Mahindra reporting increase in their domestic despatches.

 

While Maruti Suzuki posted a 13-percent rise, Mahindra & Mahindra's sales went up 22 percent in September. On the other hand, Hyundai Motor and Tata Motors   saw their sales going down by 14 percent and 18 percent respectively.

 

Toyota Kirloskar Motor and General Motors too witnessed decline in sales by 5 percent and 27 percent respectively. Ford India's sales dipped marginally in September 2012. Market leader Maruti Suzuki India recorded domestic sales of 88,801 units compared to 78,816 units in the year-ago period, registering a rise of 12.67 percent.

 

Rival Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL)'s domestic sales stood at 30,851 units compared to 35,955 units in September last year, down 14.2 percent. Commenting on the sales performance, HMIL vice-president (national sales) Rakesh Srivastava said: "We expect the suppressed demand would improve on account of festive purchases as the demand peaks during this period."

 

Homegrown auto major Tata Motors' total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 21,652 units in September, down 17.73 percent from 26,319 units in the same month last year.

 

Rival and utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra's (M&M) passenger vehicles segment (which includes the UVs and Verito) registered 22.43 percent increase at 23,808 units as against 19,447 units in the year-ago month. "We are happy with the performance and growth that we have achieved during September 2012 over the festive season month of September 2011," M&M chief executive (automotive division) Pravin Shah said.

 

"After the reduction in CRR, banks have started cutting lending rates and are also looking at reducing vehicle loan rates, he added. "We are hopeful of a good performance in the upcoming

festive season," Shah said.

 

Toyota Kirloskar Motor's September sales fell by 5.40 percent to 12,115 units from 12,807 units in the same month 2011. "We have seen a drop in sales last month. The market has been quite sluggish and the market sentiments are very low in the passenger car segment. We hope to see it picking up in the festive season," Toyota Kirloskar Motor deputy managing

director (marketing) Sandeep Singh said.

 

Car-maker Ford India's domestic sales declined marginally to 7,794 units in September this year as against 7,801 units in the same month last year.