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The dismal trend in car sales continued in June on the back of negative market sentiment. Demand is believed to be subdued given the combination of high interest rates, petrol prices and policy uncertainty over diesel cars.
Tata Motors, the third largest player, posted a 22 per cent drop in sales for the month to 17,244 units. While sales of the Nano compact were up 3 per cent (5,605 units), those of the Indica range fell 35 per cent to 5,332 units. The Indigo range saw an even sharper dip of 46 per cent (2,658 units), while sales of utility vehicles (Sumo/ Safari/ Aria/Venture) were up 5 per cent (3,649 units).
The sales numbers for market leader Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai are expected to be announced on Monday.
Fuel prices
With petrol prices higher by about Rs 30 over diesel, there was some respite for carmakers with a large diesel car portfolio. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) posted a 23 per cent rise in sales of its utility vehicles such as Bolero, Scorpio and XUV500, and the Verito at 19,792 units.
Mr Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, M&M said, “We are happy to have achieved growth, given the pressures and uncertainties that the auto industry is currently facing.” He expected the demand for utility vehicles to continue during the current financial year. “Our opinion in the current industry situation is to not have any major changes in policies, including fuel prices, to create an overall positive sentiment”, he added.
Toyota Kirloskar’s sales went up 22 per cent to 14,700 units on strong sales of the Etios range and Innova and Fortuner SUV models.
LCV demand
“We are relieved by the recent pull-back of the fuel price. However, we don’t see market sentiment improving considerably with other factors at play,” said Mr Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director, Marketing, Toyota Kirloskar.
Chennai-based two- and three-wheeler maker, TVS Motor, also saw sales dipping 7.5 per cent to 1.68 lakh units in June.
In the commercial vehicle (CV) space, Tata Motors saw a 4 per cent rise to 41,026 units. The growth was led by a 22 per cent rise in demand for light CVs to 28,363 units, though sales of medium & heavy CVs fell 21 per cent to 12,663 units in June.
Eicher Trucks & Buses saw sales going up 9 per cent in June to 4,064 units, largely driven by the sale of 1,114 buses.
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