Car sales decline for Feb 2013: Budget and petrol price hike adds to the woes

To compound to the already deteriorating situation, the Union Budget has announced an Excise Duty hike while petrol prices were once again increased by INR 1.40 per liter + local sales tax and Value Added Tax, the second increase in price in as many weeks.

Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motors has seen considerable decline in sales in the past few months. M&M and Renault, major SUV makers, are also sitting at the edge of their seats following the 3% increase in excise duty. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai which make up 80% of the Indian passenger market saw decline of 20% to 21% in February 2013 as against a 12% decline in January 2013. Maruti Suzuki registered a 9% fall in sales in February 2013 with 97,955 units sold as compared to 1,07,653 units sold in February 2013.

Hyundai registered a 7.6% dip in sales with 34,002 units sold though the silver lining to this dark cloud was that exports increased 37% to 20,663 units. Tata Motors was the one auto manufacturer who suffered the most with a 70% drop in this fiscal. The company sold only 10,613 units during the month of February, while exports reached the 3,996 unit mark. It was the same story but with varying degrees of reduced sales where other auto makers were concerned. Toyota Kirloskar sales declined 23% while General Motors India registered a 20% decline in sales during February.