New Delhi, July 2: Car sales in India appear to be heading for a record eighth consecutive month of decline with major firms, including Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Toyota and General Motors, reporting drop in June as economic slowdown and low consumer sentiments continue to affect demand.
Honda Cars India, however, posted a 250 per cent jump in June sales on the back of its newly launched compact sedan Amaze.
Hyundai Motor India and Ford India also reported increase in domestic sales bucking the declining trend.
For the month, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) registered a 7.8 per cent decline in domestic sales at 77,002 units as against to 83,531 units in June 2012, the company said in a statement.
MSI's sales in mini segment, including the M800, A-Star, Alto and WagonR, declined by 8.4 per cent to 31,314 units, while in the compact segment (comprising the Estilo, Swift and Ritz models), MSI witnessed 7.2 per cent fall in sales at 20,996 units. Sales of the DZiRE model fell by 8.7 per cent to 12,548 units.
Homegrown major Tata Motors said its total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 11,804 units in June, down 31.54 per cent from 17,244 units in the same month last year.
Likewise, Toyota Kirloskar Motor also reported 19.45 per cent decline in its domestic car sales at 13,805 units in June, 2013. It had sold 17,140 units in the corresponding month of last year.
Toyota's overall weak economic conditions continue to keep market sentiments low and the market sluggish, said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director and COO (marketing and commercial) of the car maker.
Another homegrown firm, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) domestic sales stood at 36,207 units as against 38,951 units in the same month last year, down 7.04 per cent.
"We have witnessed a de-growth in the month of June, 2013 amidst an overall decline in the auto industry. The depreciating rupee resulting in spiralling fuel costs coupled with high interest rates and the additional excise duty on SUVs has further dampened the industry without any substantial revenue to government," M&M chief executive (automotive division) Pravin Shah said.
Following the trend, General Motors India also reported 10.71 per cent decline in sales at 6,575 units in June 2013.
"The market also continues to remain subdued due to high fuel prices, high interest rates and various other structural bottlenecks and macroeconomic uncertainties," GM India vice-president P Balendran said.
Car sales in India had fallen for a record seventh consecutive month in May with a decline of 12.26 per cent at 1,43,216 units as against 1,63,222 units in the same month of 2012.
Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), however, had good sales in June with over three-fold jump in domestic sales at 9,297 units as against 2,667 units in the same month last year.
"We are extremely delighted with the consumer response to Amaze which has surpassed all expectations and is further gaining momentum. We already have more than 18,000 happy Amaze customers and we hope to add many more going forward," HCIL senior vice president (marketing and sales) Jnaneswar Sen said.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd said its domestic sales stood at 30,610 units during the month, up 0.52 per cent from 30,450 units in June 2012.
"In these challenging times of industry degrowth, Hyundai has grown in volumes and market share on the strength of a strong product portfolio and customer focus of its channel partners," said Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at HMIL.
Ford India its domestic sales also went up by 14 per cent to 7,145 units in June this year as against 6,267 units in the same month last year.
Volkswagen India said its car sales in June dipped marginally at 5,356 units as against 5,371 units.
In the two wheeler segment, Chennai-based TVS Motor Co reported a 7.14 per cent decline in sales in June at 1,37,331 units from 1,47,893 units in the same month last year.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) on the other had posted 11.09 per cent growth in its total sales for June 2013 at 2,52,114 units.
Likewise, Yamaha Motor India Sales (YMIS) also said its June domestic sales grew by 46.23 per cent at 35,561 units compared to 24,318 units in the year-ago period.
