Price rise? Auto sales soar across India

Maruti Suzuki India on Thursday reported a 17.28 per cent jump in June sales to 88,091 units over the same month last year.

The company had sold 75,109 units in June last year, Maruti Suzuki India said.

In the domestic market, Maruti sold 72,812 units against 61,773 units in June 2009, an increase of 17.87 per cent.

Exports surged 14.57 per cent to 15,279 units from 13,336 units in the year-ago period, it added. For the April-June quarter, MSI's total sales rose 24.96 per cent to 2,83,324 units compared to 2,26,729 units in the year-ago period.

Domestic sales in the first quarter of 2010-11 increased 23.03 per cent to 2,42,887 units from 1,97,415 units in the same period last fiscal.

Exports for the quarter surged 37.94 per cent to 40,437 units against 29,314 units in the first quarter of FY'10, the company said.

In June this year, sales of the company's once bread- and-butter model M800 fell 14.27 per cent to 2,090 units compared to 2,438 units in June 2009, the statement said.

The A2 segment (comprising Alto, WagonR, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz) witnessed 11.40 per cent growth last month at 51,418 units compared to 46,156 units in the year-ago month.

The A3 segment sales (consisting SX4 and DZiRE) increased 32.50 per cent to 8,081 units compared to 6,099 units in the corresponding period a year ago, the company said.

MSI's total passenger car sales rose 16.11 per cent at 71,503 units in June against 61,583 units in the same month in 2009, it added.

Ford India sales jump 267%: According to another report. Ford India on Thursday reported a 267 per cent jump in its sales to 7,269 units in June as compared to 1,982 units in the same period last year on the back of a good response for its Figo.

"Success was driven mainly by the popularity of the Figo. We will continue to focus on our customers needs so that they will feel the Ford difference with our products and services," Ford India's president and managing director, Michael Boneham, said.

The company has sold 22,858 units from April-June this year, as compared to 6,184 units in the same period last year.

"This is a phenomenal feat with our March to June sales figures alone exceeding the entire sales volume for 2009," Boneham, said.

"We will begin our second production shift this month in order to step up production to meet the demands that we have created," Boneham added.

The company sells its Ikon, Endeavour, Fiesta and Figo in Indian market. It has more than 167 dealership outlets across 97 cities in India.

India Yamaha Motor sales up 32%: Two-wheeler maker India Yamaha Motor reported on Thursday 32.32 per cent increase in its total sales in June at 28,155 units.

The company had sold 21,278 units in the same month last year, India Yamaha Motor said.

The domestic sales rose by 18.34 per cent to 21,157 units in June 2010 from 17,878 units in the same month last year, it added.

During last month, the company exported 6,998 units as against 3,400 units in the year-ago period, a jump of over two-fold.

"It is a sense of pride to witness Yamaha's growing foothold in the Indian two-wheeler industry.

The first half of the year has been indeed result-driven, which is reflected not only in our sales graph, but also in the initiatives taken to get closer to our consumers," India Yamaha Motor director and chief sales officer Koji Arai said.

He said the recent product launches, including the entry level YBR 110 and the refreshed FZ16 and FZ-S in the deluxe- segment, will further lift the sales in the coming months.

TVS Motor's two-wheeler sales up 36%: Chennai-based TVS Motor Company today reported a 35.72 per cent increase in its total two- wheeler sales in June at 1,56,685 units. The company had sold 1,15,448 units in the corresponding month last year, TVS Motor Company said.

Motorcycle sales of the company during the last month rose by 44.31 per cent to 66,452 units from 46,048 units in the year-ago period, it added.

The domestic two-wheeler sales in June 2010 stood at 1,39,905 units, up 32.79 per cent over 1,05,361 units in the same month in 2009.

The company said its exports of two-wheelers during the month rose by 66.35 per cent at 16,780 units as against 10,087 units in June 2009.

Total three-wheeler sales also soared by over three-folds to 3,003 units in last month from 810 units in the same month of 2009, the statement said.

For April-June quarter of 2010-11, the company sold a total of 4,56,041 units as against 3,47,141 units in the same period last fiscal, up 31.37 per cent.

Hyundai's domestic sales jump 19%: Hyundai Motor India reported on Thursday a jump of 18.90 per cent in its June 2010 domestic sales at 27,366 units.

The company had sold 23,016 units in the domestic market in June 2009, Hyundai Motor India Ltd said.

The company's total sales, however, declined by 2.14 per cent at 46,254 units last month as against 47,266 units in the year-ago period.

Exports of the company also fell by 22.11 per cent to 18,888 units from 24,250 units in the year-ago period, the statement said.

"The domestic market continues to show a steady growth, but the exports have slowed down especially in the EU countries in the absence of any fresh incentives from the respective governments there," HMIL director (marketing and sales) Arvind Saxena said. The company expects the domestic market to grow in double digits in the second half of this year, he added.

During 2009-10, the European nations were the major destinations for the Indian auto industry's passenger car exports, which registered robust growth led by HMIL and Maruti Suzuki India.

The growth was fuelled by a scrappage scheme rolled out by many European nations during last fiscal to boost small car sales.

Under the scheme, various governments had offered incentives to buy new cars in exchange of old ones.

In June, HMIL sold 42,099 units in the A2 segment (Santro, i10, i20 and Getz Prime), while in the A3 segment (Accent and Verna) sales were at 4,137 units. The A5 segment (Sonata Transform) of HMIL witnessed sales of 18 units, while SUV Tucson got no buyer during the month.

GM India's June sales up over two-folds: Carmaker General Motors India saw its sales climbing over two-folds to 9,539 units in June this year compared to 4,492 units in the same month last year.

"The increase in the sales was primarily driven by the tremendous response to the recently launched and much sought after Chevrolet Beat and Chevrolet Cruze and the extremely popular Chevrolet Spark," General Motors India said.

The company sold 2,911 units of the hatchback Spark, 773 units of the sedan Cruze and 3,415 units of the latest compact car Beat in the reporting month, it added.

It also sold 387 units of premium hatchback Aveo U-Va, 398 units of the entry-level sedan Aveo, 93 units of the mid-sized sedan Optra, 1,423 units of the multi-utility vehicle Tavera and 139 units of the SUV Captiva.