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Automobile majors — faced with the twin challenges of tight liquidity and low buying sentiment — have reported mixed sales trend for December 2018.
In the passenger vehicle segment, market leader Maruti Suzuki India reported a marginal sales growth at 1,19,804 units in December 2018, against 1,18,560 units in December 2017.
The small car market leader could not sell its most popular vehicles, such as WagonR, Swift, Baleno and Dzire, in large numbers, and sales of the ‘mini’ segment fell by 14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and the ‘compact’ segment fell 4 per cent YoY.
‘Nexon’ maker Tata Motors also registered a growth by just 1 per cent YoY to 14,260 units, against 14,180 units in December 2017.
Mahindra & Mahindra reported a decline of 3 per cent in its vehicle sales at 15,091 units, compared with 15,543 units in December 2017.
Rural promise
“In the domestic market, challenges relating to tight liquidity and low buying sentiment let to the de-growth in December. We hope to see a good performance in the fourth quarter, owing to the anticipated rural demand because of the harvesting season and the launch of our new XUV300 in February,” said Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M. However, Hyundai Motor India, Honda Cars India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported better growth during the month compared to their competitors.
For instance, ‘Creta’ maker Hyundai Motor India saw 5 per cent growth YoY at 42,093 units last month, compared with 40,158 units in the same month the previous year. Similarly, Honda Cars India reported 4 per cent growth at 13,139 units (12,642 units).
Toyota reported double-digit growth of 10 per cent to 11,830 units (10,793 units).
In the two-wheeler segment, while major companies like Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Bajaj Auto are expected to report their sales on Wednesday, Royal Enfield reported a decline of 14 per cent to 56,026 units (65,367 units). In the commercial vehicle segment, Volvo Eicher and Maruti Suzuki reported growth during the month.
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