The festive season failed to bring in any sparkle to automakers in the country as lack luster sales continued throughout the month of November 2018. Automakers such as Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar and Ford India reported a decline in sales while sales of Honda Cars increased 10% during the past month.
These dismal sales as reported by a majority of automakers in the country were despite the fact that hefty discount schemes and exchange offers were introduced. These lower than expected sales could be due to weak buyer sentiments, higher insurance cost, vehicle price hike and liquidity crunch.
Maruti Suzuki India Limited – The company witnessed a marginal decline of 0.7% in cumulative sales during the month of November 2018 while domestic sales increased marginally. Maruti Suzuki total sales stood at 1,53,539 units in the past month that include domestic sales and exports. This was against total sales of 1,54,600 units in the same month of the previous year. Domestic sales increased 0.5% while exports took a massive hit with sales dipping by 19.1%. Total domestic sales stood at 1,46,018 units, down from 1,45,300 units in November 2017 while exports dipped from 9,300 units in November 2017 to just 7,521 units in the past month.
This dip in sales were mostly in the entry level segment with models such as Alto and WagonR while sales of the Swift, DZire and Baleno saw an increase by 10.8%. In the utility vehicle segment, sales of the Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and S-Cross increased 1.2% while sales of the Omni and Eeco increased 3.6%. The company launched the new Ertiga MPV at the end of last month.
Hyundai India – The second-largest car manufacturer, Hyundai Motor, also reported a 0.7% dip in sales. Sales in the past month stood at 43,709 units down from 33,008 units sold in the same month of the previous year. The Hyundai Santro, launched in India in October has contributed efficiently to sales in November 2018. The company has reported over 40,000 bookings of the Santro since launch and is under pressure to meet production targets. The company has also revised its sales to 10,000 units per month as compared to an earlier target of 8,500 units while production operations are being stepped up.
Mahindra also noted an increase in sales in November 2018. Sales during the past month increased 17% from 38,570 units sold in November 2017 to 45,101 units sold in the past month. Domestic sales stood at 41,564 units, an increase of 15% as compared to domestic sales of 36,039 units in November 2017. Passenger vehicle sales stood at 16,188 units in November 2018 as compared to 16,030 units sold in November 2017. Commercial vehicle sales registered a 26% growth to 19,673 units in the past month. In the Medium and Heavy commercial vehicle segment, the company sold 637 units in November 2018 while exports stood at 3,535 units, up 40%.
Tata Motors also reported a dip in sales in November 2018. Sales dipped 3.8% to 50,470 units in the past month as compared to sales of 52,464 units in November 2017. In the passenger vehicle segment, the company witnessed a decline of 1.01% to 16,982 units as compared to 17,157 units sold in November 2017. Commercial vehicle domestic sales also declined 5.15% from 35,307 units sold in November 2017 to 33,488 units sold in the past month. Total exports stood at 4,604 units in November 2018 as compared to 4,927 units exported in November 2017, a decline of 6.55%. The company also cited lower consumer sentiments and liquidity crisis across the industry for these lower sales. Tata Motors now gears up to see added sales with the recently launched Tiago NRG, Nexon Kraz and JTP range of vehicles. The new Tata Harrier is also poised for launch in early 2019 which could receive good market response.
Honda Cars India registered a 10% growth in November 2018. The company’s overall sales increased 10.67% with 13,549 units sold as compared to 12,102 units sold in November 2017. Domestic sales in the past month stood at 13,003 units as compared to 11,819 units sold in the same month of the previous year while exports increased 48% from 283 units exported in November 2017 to 543 units exported in the past month. It was the new Amaze sedan and models such as the City and WR-V that contributed efficiently to these sales.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors registered a 16% decline in sales. The company sold 10,721 units in the past and exported 669 units of the Etios series in November taking total sales to 11,390 units. Sales in November 2017 had stood at 12,347 units while 686 units of the Etios series were exported. The company cites rising fuel cost, higher interest rates and fluctuating exchange rates as reasons for falling sales. The automaker has also announced a hike in prices by upto 4% across all models from 1st January 2019.
Ford India sales in November 2018 dipped 26.3% to stand at 19,905 units as compared to total sales of 29,019 units in November 2017. Domestic sales stood at 6,375 units as compared to 7,777 units sold in the same month of the previous year while exports decreased from 19,242 units in November 2017 to 13,530 units in the past month. Here too, Anurag Mehrotra, President and MD of Ford India cited lower consumer sentiments, volatile fuel prices and inflation for the lower than expected sales.
