Buying sentiments for passenger cars and utility vehicles remained subdued after the festival season, and even two-wheeler companies reported a drop in sales during November, according to the latest data.

Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai

In the passenger vehicle segment, market leader Maruti Suzuki India reported a marginal decline in sales during the month to 1,43,890 units, when compared with 1,44,297 units sold in the corresponding month last year.

The second-largest manufacturer, Hyundai Motor India, also registered a decline in sales to 43,709 units in November, against 44,008 units in November 2017. Similarly, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Ford India also reported a slump in sales year-on-year (YoY) during the month.

Stock pile-up

“Fluctuating exchange rates, rising fuel costs, and high interest rates have impacted the consumer sentiment in auto industry. Consumer demand has witnessed a downward trend over the festival period, compared to the same period last year.

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“We are trying to maintain lean inventory at dealerships to avoid stock pile-up. The festival season has not been able to spur customer demand,” said N Raja, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

Home-grown manufacturers, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), also did not perform well during last month with adverse macro-economic conditions impacting the growth forecast for the automotive industry in general. “Going forward, we hope that decrease in fuel prices and improving liquidity will drive demand for passenger vehicles.

“At Mahindra, we remain upbeat due to our new product launches of Marazzo, Alturas G4, and the upcoming launch of our new SUV codenamed S201,” said Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M.

Two-wheeler segment

In the two-wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp managed to grow marginally year-on-year to 6,10,252 units in November, when compared to 6,05,270 units in same month last year.

However, scooter market leader Honda Motorcycle and Scooter could not maintain growth, and reported a sale of 3,94,241 units last month, down 9 per cent when compared to 4,32,350 units in November 2017.

The commercial vehicle segment also did not see much growth in sales by the major companies.

 

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