The Hindu Business Line : Vehicle sales down in Dec

Mumbai, Jan. 1 Hard times for the auto industry are far from over as the monthly sales figures of car manufacturers Maruti Suzuki, General Motors and two-wheeler makers Hero Honda and Bajaj showed drop in volumes.

Other major automobile manufacturers including Tata Motors, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra did not release the monthly sales reports on the New Year Day.

Maruti Suzuki, the market leader with about 50 per cent of the domestic car market, has reported a 10 per cent drop in December sales at 56,293 vehicles .

This is the third consecutive month that Maruti is reporting a decline in sales. The company reported an 8 per cent drop in October at 59,127 units in the domestic market while and the sales further slipped to 47,704 in November, which marked a 27 per cent decline.

General Motors India clocked 4,041 units (6,309) in December, 36 per cent less than it sold during the year-ago period.

However, the company said, on an annual basis, its sales grew by 9.5 per cent in the calendar year 2008 at 65,702 units. “Since the market has slowed down completely, we could not meet our target,” said Mr P. Balendran, Vice-President, GM India.

Hopes on improvement

“We expect the market to improve in the coming months because of the various measures taken by the Government to stimulate the economy," said Mr Balendran.

The country’s top two two-wheeler manufacturers Hero Honda and Bajaj recorded fall in monthly sales. Hero Honda’s sales in December slipped 10 per cent to 2.16 lakh against 2.4 lakh during the same period last year. Bajaj Auto reported 33 per cent decline at 1.19 lakh (1.77 lakh).

For Hero Honda, sales were decreasing since October while Bajaj started showing declining trend from September.

Hero Honda sold 4 per cent less in October at 3.45 lakh and a few hundred units less in November 2008 at 2.81 lakh, when compared to the corresponding months in the previous year.

Bajaj had sold 1.77 lakh units in the domestic market in September, 4 per cent less than the corresponding period in the previous year. In October it reported 48 per cent decline at 1.17 lakh and in November Bajaj’s domestic sales went below the one lakh mark and slipped to 92,350 units.

“The industry might see further slowdown if the high two-wheeler financing rates and liquidity crunch continue,” said Mr. Anil Dua, Senior Vice-President, Hero Honda.

Hero Honda said its cumulative sale for the calendar year 2008 is 9 per cent up at 36 lakh.

New products

Automobile companies hope to fight the downtrend with launching new products. General Motors said it would launch at least three new models in 2009. “We would be launching Captiva AT, Cruze and another mini car in 2009,” said Mr. Balendran.

“In keeping with its objective to stimulate demand through a major product offensive, Bajaj will, in January 2009, launch an all new motorcycle, the first of several to be introduced in 2009,” said Mr Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, in a statement .

“Targeted at the ‘sport commuter’ segment, this motorcycle is intended to further Bajaj’s leadership in the 125 cc+ category,” he said.