Domestic car sales grow over 15% in August: Siam

Snapping a nine-month streak of decline, domestic passengercar sales grew by 15.37% to 1,33,486 units in August this year, compared to 1,15,705 units in the same month last year.

Industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), however, played down the feat saying the growth was mainly due to low base effect as a result of the month-long lockout last year at the country’s largest car makerMaruti Suzuki India (MSI) Manesar plant.

“This (growth) is not a reflection of the market conditions. This is mainly due to Maruti’s numbers compared to last year. The tough market conditions still remain. Interest rates are high, fuel prices continue to be high while sentiments are extremely low,” SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen told reporters here.Domestic passenger car sales grew by over 15% to 153,758 units in August compared with 133,513 units in the same month of 2013. According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), motorcycle sales during the month grew 14.45% to 910,312 units as against 795,411 units in August last year. Total two-wheeler sales in August 2014 grew 19.2% to 1.34 million units from 1.12 million units in the same period of the previous year. Total sales of commercial vehicles were down by 5.6% to 48,473 units from 51,344 units in the year-ago period, Siam said. Total sale of vehicles across categories registered a growth of 17.54% to 16.6 million units in August as against 14.12 million units in the same month of 2013, it added.
In August, market leader MSI doubled its domestic car sales at 63,499 units as against 31,653 in the same month last year.

The company had declared a month-long lockout at its Manesar plant in August 2012 following a violent labour unrest in which a senior executive was killed.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd registered a marginal increase during the month at 28,281 units as against 28,192 units last year. Tata Motors saw its sales plunge by 50.57% to 8,761 units as against 17,727 units in August last year.

Another homegrown major, Mahindra & Mahindra, which mostly sells utility and sports utility vehicles, saw its domestic passenger vehicles sales decline by 25.45% to 18,137 units during the month.

According to the latest SIAM figures, motorcycle sales grew by 3.82% last month to 7,95,378 units from 7,66,127 units in the same month of previous year.

“The good monsoon has had an impact on rural sales of two-wheelers, specially that of motorcycles. We expect this to continue and the rural demand could also have a slight positive impact on car sales,” Sen said.

During August this year, two-wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp posted 1.61% increase in its domestic sales at 3,95,180 units as against 3,88,903 units last year.

Rival Bajaj Auto saw its bike sales decline by 22.6% to 1,50,989 units as compared to 1,95,093 units last August. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s (HMSI) motorcycle sales grew by 48.68% to 1,44,039 units as against 96,876 units in the year ago month.

According to SIAM, total two-wheeler sales in August 2013

grew by 6.68% to 11,28,598 units from 10,57,925 units in the same period of previous year.

Scooter sales during the month were at 2,83,142 units as against 2,33,180 units last year, up 21.43%.

HMSI saw its scooter sales grow by 31.44% to 1,47,600 units in August this year. Hero MotoCorp also witnessed 28.31% increase in scooter sales at 54,966 units during the period.

Total sales of commercial vehicles declined by 23.11% to 51,334 units from 66,767 units in the year-ago period, SIAM said.

Sen said the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment (M&HCV) has been badly affected and it witnessed a decline for the 18th consecutive month. During the month, M&HCV sales were down 38.24% at 15,468 units.

Total sale of vehicles across categories registered a growth of 4.47% to 14,12,512 units in August 2013 as against 13,52,025 units in the same month of 2012, it added.