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Tata Motors thanks to its new cars – Zest and Bolt – posted robust growth in sales in February, as also Honda Cars India while others like Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India recorded higher sales last month over the same period last year.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India witnessed 8.6 per cent higher sales at 1,18,551 units in February, out of which 1,07,892 in domestic market and 10,659 units in exports. The company’s total sales were 1,09,104 vehicles in February last year.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) reported a 2.4 per cent growth in total sales at 47,612 units in February, compared with 46,505 units in the same month last year, the company said in a statement. Its exports, however, declined 17.5 per cent at 10,307 compared with 12,500 units.
Driven by Elite i20Rakesh Srivastava, Senior VP- Sales and Marketing, HMIL, said, “The growth was due to strong performance of Elite i20 with 10,264 units. The growth in additional and repeat buyers is higher than that of first time buyers.”
Honda Cars India Ltd domestic sales grew 16 per cent at 16,902 units in February against 14,543 units in the corresponding month last year.
Domestic sales of Tata Motors’ commercial and passenger vehicles for February 2015 were up 14 per cent at 40,314 units compared with 35,315 vehicles, while exports were 3,911 units, 16 per cent lower compared with 4,636 vehicles. The trend of growth in passenger vehicles continued - with the strong Zest sales and the good response to the all-new Bolt, the company said.
SUV manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd saw a 9.8 per cent drop in total sales at 38,033 units during February, against 42,166 units.
Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, said, “The auto industry has not seen any major changes in the Budget. However, looking at the overall Budget proposals, including planned spend on infrastructure and social reforms, we expect positive sentiments going forward. Further, with an expected revision in lending rates in the RBI policy in early April, the industry should see better times ahead.”
Total sales of General Motors India slumped 22.9 per cent at 4,320 vehicles in February 2015 against 5,607 units.
“The discontinuation of excise duty benefits has impacted the industry during the last two months. Even the Budget announcements are not enough to revive the consumer sentiment,” said P Balendran, Vice-President, General Motors India.
Two-wheeler segmentHero MotoCorp witnessed a 3.85 per cent decline in February at 4,84,769 units, against 5,04,181 units in the corresponding month last year. TVS Motor company posted 15 per cent higher sales at 2,04,565 units against 1,77,662 units.
Bajaj Auto sold a total of 2.43 lakh two and three-wheelers against 3.13 lakh units. This represents a dip of 22 per cent.
Motorcycle sales were down 21 per cent to 2.16 lakh units (2.75 lakh), while commercial vehicle sales dropped by 32 per cent to 27,242 units.
Exports also took a hit dropping by 20 per cent to 1.12 lakh units on the back of trouble in Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Bangladesh.
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