Car Sales: April 2014

  • May 2, 2014
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Indian automobile industry limps with low car sales in April 2014.

Car Sales in India: April 2014

When stalwarts like Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar Motor report a decline in domestic sales, it’s reason enough for the industry to be concerned. The general economic condition and uncertainty due to the general elections has witnessed a dip in the demand for new cars.

According to the sales report shared by manufacturers with ZigWheels, just a handful of car manufacturers have witnessed positive growth. This is despite the special financial year-end discounts and the excise benefits that companies had on offer.

Slow traffic

Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car manufacturer, reported sales of 79,119 units in April, which is a decline of 12.6 per cent compared to April last year. Its compact car models like WagonR and Alto, which used to be its strongest segment, saw a dip in demand by 25.4 per cent at 26,043 units. Thankfully the introduction of Celerio and the steady demand for Swift helped its performance in the premium compact segment, where the sales rose by 9.9 per cent selling 23,659 units in April’14.

The popular DZire compact sedan is under immense pressure by newer models in the segment by Hyundai and Honda. And this was the cause of the sales plunging by 17.7 per cent during last month, to 16,008 units. In the MPV segment, the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga hasn’t been able to keep the excitement going, as the company reported a 5.5 per cent drop in sales to 5,011 units in April 2014.



Another bigwig to report a drop in sales is Mahindra & Mahindra. The company said that its domestic sales saw a decline of 15 per cent at 34,107 units in April’14; compared to 39,902 units it sold in April last year. Commenting on the monthly performance, Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “It is unfortunate that the auto industry has not seen an upturn over the last couple of months in spite of a reduction in excise duty. We do hope that post the general elections, sentiments improve leading to a better economic situation and hence increase in demand.”

Global automobile giant, General Motors, hasn’t had much good news to share about their Indian operations in the recent past. Talking about the slow sales P. Balendran, Vice President, General Motors India said, “Customer sentiment continues to remain negative even with price reduction on account of excise duty cut and other market promotion schemes. The buoyancy in the market is completely missing and we don’t see any upturn before the new government assumes office”.  The company reported a massive drop of 35.30 per cent in April sales at 5,302 units.

And if the uncertainty over the General Elections has kept the sales low, the recent labour unrest at the Bangalore plant has crippled the sales of Toyota Kirloskar Motor which also reported negative domestic sales by 16.04 per cent at 7,562 units in April. N Raja, Director and Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, TKM said, “We resumed normal production on April 22 and were carrying out limited operations until then. We thank our customers for their support and understanding during this difficult time. It is our endeavor to make the deliveries of vehicles on a timely basis. ”

Home grown auto maker, Tata Motors, said that the sales of its passenger vehicles for April 2014 were at 7,441 units, lower by 36 per cent over 11,570 vehicles it sold in April 2013.  Sales of Nano, Indica and Indigo range in April 2014 were 5,653 units, lower by 37 per cent over 8,918 vehicles sold in April 2013. The bigger Sumo, Safari, Aria and Venture range sold 1,788units, which is 33 per cent decline over 2,652 units sold in April last year.





Fast Track

But it’s not all that dark and gloomy in the automobile industry. Riding on the success of their new models, companies like Hyundai Motor India, Honda Cars India, Ford India and Nissan saw their sales graph point north.

India’s second largest car maker, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) reported an increase of 8.78 per cent in its domestic sales at 35,248 units last month buoyed by the success of its Xcent sedan. HMIL, Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing), Rakesh Srivastava said, “Growth is led by sedan and utility vehicles across geographical locations, with new products Xcent, Grand and Santa Fe adding volumes with an overwhelming response from customers.”

On a similar note, Honda Cars India posted an impressive 30 per cent increase in domestic sales at 11,040 units in April, thanks to the popularity of its newly launched Honda City. The premium sedan outsold its siblings including the Honda Brio hatchback and Honda Amaze compact sedan by recording 7,044 units sales in April this year.

Positive report also poured in from Ford India which posted 6,651 units sales in April, up 66.15 per cent from April 2013. The company is still basking on the success of the Ford EcoSport compact-SUV, and last month, it also introduced an upgraded version of the Ford Endeavour SUV. Speaking about the positive trend Vinay Piparsania, Executive Director (Marketing, Sales and Service), Ford India said, “Despite on-going business challenges faced by the Indian automotive industry, Ford India sales have held steady in April.” Considering the general market condition he added, “In the run up to the formation of the next government, we remain cautious and watchful in anticipation of progressive policy interventions to energize the Indian automotive sector.”

And finally Nissan seems to have woken up from its slumber and indicated a year-on-year sales growth at a healthy 328 per cent for the month of April. The company sold 5,301 vehicles in April 2014 as against 1,239 vehicles in the same period last year. It’s no surprise that the newly revived Datsun GO contributed over 50 per cent to the group’s overall sales with 2691 units.

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