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Barring Hyundai Motor India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the other major multinational car manufacturers with operations in India for some period of time continue to report losses.
The companies' financial statements filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs show that General Motors India and Ford India have pruned their losses in 2010-11 over the previous year, while Honda Siel Cars has seen a huge jump in loss for the last financial year. Honda sold fewer cars in 2010-11 than it did the previous year, which was also the case with Hyundai Motor India.
Ford India, on the other hand, sold nearly three times more cars than it did in 2009-10, thanks mainly to its hatchback Figo. For the first time, Ford India's sales crossed the one-lakh mark in a financial year, which was the capacity the company announced it would set up when it launched its plans for India more than a decade back.
The car market leader Maruti Suzuki sold 1.27 million vehicles in 2010-11, reported an income of Rs 37,522 crore and posted a net profit of Rs 2,289 crore.
All the companies put together sold 2,973,900 passenger vehicles (cars, sport utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles) in 2010-11, of which 2,520,421 vehicles were sold in the domestic market and 453,479 units exported.
General Motors India
The company said despite the volatility of the economic situation globally, steep hike in interest rates, manifold increases in raw material input cost, rising fuel prices, GM India sold 107,620 vehicles during the year.
GM India commissioned the engine plant at Talegaon from where it rolled out the Smartech engine. This facility has the distinction of being the first combined diesel and petrol engine facility in the GM world.
The joint venture tie-up with SAIC has started moving forward in full swing with the Halol plant starting expansion activities to increase the capacity from 85,000 units to 110,000 units a year to roll out LCVs. The tie-up will provide GM India access to light commercial vehicles and other vehicles from SAIC and SGMW's stable. These will be produced at GM India's Talegaon and Halol plants alongside GM's portfolio of models for India and global markets.
The tie-up will provide opportunities to negotiate competitive supplier contracts because of larger volumes, dealer viability, financial options and employment opportunities at their end.
Hyundai Motor India
The company registered a 13 per cent growth in the domestic market by penetrating the rural market. It sold 358,583 units in the domestic market, against 316,623 in the previous year. The company said it maintained a market share of 18.1 per cent in the passenger car segment.
In exports, the company's volume was down by 18 per cent from 285,638 units to 233,058 units, due to slow recovery of European market. The company continues to export to Africa, Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
The company recorded a domestic turnover (including excise) of Rs 13,586 crore compared to Rs 11,243 crore, an 18 per cent growth. Export turnover was Rs 7,407 crore compared to Rs 9,629 crore in the previous year.
Hyundai Motor India said the growth in profitability was due to increased domestic volume, savings in interest cost and finance charges on account of repayment of loans, favourable exchange realisation of export sales during the period and reduction in advertisement cost in the export markets. Manufacturing and other expenditure was down to Rs 18,304 crore from Rs 18,857 crore previously, while interest and financial charges almost halved to Rs 45 crore from Rs 97 crore.
Ford India
Apart from continuing to export completely built Fiestas to South Africa, during the year Ford India started exporting the Figo in a significant way. It also kicked off engine exports to Thailand. These have resulted in exports increasing by more than 700 per cent from the previous year. The value of exports during the year was Rs 755 crore and has helped the company to meet the ongoing export obligations under EPCG scheme.
The company installed a new cylinder head/block and crank machining line as part of its new engine plant with a machining capacity of 250,000 units per annum. This facility will ensure a smooth supply of machined components to the vehicle assembly. Apart from this, the company also commenced work on increasing the capacity of its diesel engine manufacturing capacity from 80,000 to 160,000 units per annum.
Honda Siel Cars India
During the year, Honda Siel Cars said it focussed on increasing localisation levels, developing local suppliers and building capacity for critical components such as power train parts at its plant at Tapukara, to minimise the risk of foreign exchange fluctuations and dependence on imports.
It said its performance was adversely impacted during the year by rising fuel prices, unfavourable foreign exchange rates, expanding gap between prices of diesel and petrol, and increasing competition through aggressive sales promotion policies. (Honda does not have any diesel car in India.)
With the launch of its small car Brio, the company expects to improve its performance this year.
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