March sees modest growth in car sales

Reflecting the slow recovery in Indian automobile market, major car makers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai saw modest growth in March, while others like Ford and Mahindra posted decline in sales during the month.

Honda Cars India, however, posted a growth of 23 per cent in March riding on the success of its sedans Amaze and City.

Maruti Suzuki India said its domestic sales increased by 1.4 per cent during the month to 103,719 units as against 102,269 units in March 2014.

Sales of mini segment cars, including, Alto and WagonR, rose marginally to 40,159 units as compared to 40,085 units, while sales of compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire declined by 12.5 per cent to 38,710 units in March.

The company, however, posted its highest ever sales in a fiscal in 2014-15 at 12,92,415 units, up 11.9 per cent, from 11,55,041 units in 2013-14. The previous high was in 2010-11, when the company had sold 12,71,005 units.

"When the industry grew by around 4 per cent, we grew by 11 per cent in FY15. While new models have played a significant role in the challenging environment but our efforts to expand our network both in rural and urban areas have paid off," Maruti Suzuki India executive director marketing & sales RS Kalsi told PTI.

Rival Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) sold 39,525 units last month compared with 35,003 units in March 2014, up 12.9 per cent.

Stating that the market sentiments were weak, HMIL senior vice-president (sales and marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said, "The 2015 outlook seems challenging as there is low traction with weak delivery on macro-economic parameters and low consumer sentiments."

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), however, had a good run in March registering its highest ever monthly domestic sales of 22,696 units, up 23 per cent as compared to 18,426 units in the same month last year.

The company also posted its highest ever annual domestic sales of 189,062 units during FY 2014–15 recording 41 per cent growth over last financial year.

"The fiscal 2014-2015 has been extremely fruitful for HCIL. We are thankful to our customers for the great response we have achieved for Mobilio launched in July last year and their continued interest for other models," HCIL senior vice president – marketing Jnaneswar Sen said.

Utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra saw its domestic sales declining by 15 per cent to 41,193 units last month as against 48,490 units a year earlier.

Likewise, Ford India's domestic sales were down 17.35 per cent at 5,253 units last month from 6,356 units a year ago.

Commenting on the sales performance, Ford India executive director marketing, sales and service Anurag Mehrotra said: "With the economic recovery being slower than anticipated and a high interest rate and inflation environment, customers continue to defer their discretionary spends."

General Motors India reported 35.5 per cent decline in sales at 4,257 units in March as against 6,601 units in the same month last year.

Commenting on the performance, General Motors India vice president P Balendran said: "Despite the marginal reductions in repo rates earlier this year, the green shoots are still not visible in the economy as we haven't really seen the banks passing on the reductions entirely to consumers."

This, coupled with the economic slowdown, continues to hold the industry performance in the red and a possible turnaround is still not expected in the coming months, he added.