August 2018 has been a tough month for automakers in India. The main reason for this was the devastating floods in Kerala, one of the biggest automobile markets in the country. To compound the situation even further, this occurred during the Onam, the biggest festival for the Keralites when auto sales are usually at their peak.
Earlier this week, we discussed about the top performers in the Indian car industry – Maruti, Hyundai, Tata, Honda, Mahindra, Toyota, Ford. In this report, we will look at the sales performance of those car makers who are in the lower half of the list.
Taking sales of Renault into account, the company has reported a dip of 31.6% from 9,585 units sold in August 2017 to 6,557 units sold in August 2018. Likewise, Volkswagen reported a 19.8% drop in August 2018 sales. Sales during the past month stood at 3,334 units as compared to sales of 4,159 units sold in the same month of the previous year.
Nissan sales fell by 35% from 4,780 units sold in August 2017 to 3,108 units sold last month while sales of Skoda fell 24.3%. Skoda sales in August 2017 were at 1,756 units which dipped further to 1,330 units in August 2018.
In a bid to enhance sales, Skoda India has announced a host of new initiatives under the INDIA 2.0 Project. New dealerships and service outlets across the country have been renovated offering an enhanced buying experience to customers while the automaker has also announced a 4 year warranty and roadside assistance package along with a 4 year maintenance package across its entire model range.
Jeep sales dipped 35% in August 2018. Sales which stood at 2,020 units in August 2017 went down to 1,303 units in the past month while sales of Fiat also dropped a massive 59.4% from 239 units sold in August 2017 to a mere 97 units in the month.
