India's hottest selling cars in May

You name it, and you almost have it. This refers to the auto brands available in India. Presently, almost all major car brands have entered the Indian market, with recent addition of Ferrari and Renault to complete the list.

The list doesn't end here. More global car makers as well as companies related to the auto business are eyeing India as their next big destination. Reason: Fast emerging economy and still unexplored market.

The sales figure only tells a positive tale. The Indian car market looks lucrative, if we juxtapose car sales figures of May 2011 and May 2010.

As a general trend, the shift this year is towards diesel and that is why car companies are coming up with more models and soon the customers will be flooded with a variety of cars to choose from. Any and everything in diesel, LPG and CNG seems to be in demand.

Sales figures of cars in India in the month of May, 2011 suggest that approximately every single car company gained considerable counts compared to sales figures last May.

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Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Ford, Mahindra Auto and Tata Motors did well in May '11 acquiring substantial increments.

Meanwhile, Japanese car manufacturers namely Honda and Toyota grappled to keep their sales intact despite a production cut due to the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.

It is believed that overall car sales figures of May could have been more encouraging if it would not have been dampened by rise in interest rates, increase in petrol price and high inflation.

Let's see the performance of eleven car companies in India in May 2011 compared to the May 2010.

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Audi

Audi gained 104 per cent growth in May-2011 German car manufacturer Audi announced that their sales figures gained a mammoth increment of 104 per cent this May, compared to the number in May 2010.

It is worth mentioning that Audi India sold 408 cars in May, 2011 as compared to 200 cars it sold last May. Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India attributes 'strong brand and product pull' to have boosted sales. Audi A7 and Audi RS5 are its latest additions and Audi A6 would be the newcomer soon.

As of now, Audi India is marking its presence with big fleet of cars ranging from compact executive cars like Audi A4, executive cars like Audi A6 and Audi A7, to luxury cars like Audi A8.

Further company has also in its fleet sportback cars like Audi Q5, Audi Q7, Audi RS5 and the super sports cars Audi R8, Audi R8 Spyder.

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Skoda Auto India

Czech car maker Skoda Motors announced a total sale of 2761 cars in May, 2011 against 1381 cars sold last May registering a growth of 100 per cent.

Further, the figures suggest that Skoda Fabia, Skoda Laura, Skoda Superb and Skoda Yeti witnessed good sales.

Contented with the sales, the company intends to amplify the sales figure by expanding Skoda dealerships in India and is also eyeing an increase in global sales figure to reach 1.5 million cars by 2018.

It is worth mentioning that Skoda India recently launched 3s facility (Service, Sales and Spare parts) in Delhi to boost after sales service of Skoda cars in India.

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Honda Siel Cars India

Honda Siel Cars India is the Joint Venture of Japan's largest engine maker Honda and Indian Siel cars and it reported sale of 2334 cars in May, 2011 which is 16 per cent higher than the cars sold by company in April '11 i.e. 2012 units.

With reports of Honda units operating at 50 per cent of total capacity due to March 11 earthquake followed by Tsunami, company officials are quite satisfied with the results and are expecting absolute comeback by coming October.

Moreover, the increment in sales figure were backed primarily by sale of Honda City (1828 units) followed by Honda Civic (190), hatchback car Honda Jazz (170), Honda Accord (115) and Honda CR-V (31).

Similarly, Honda is also banking on its upcoming hatchback car Honda Brio to further improve the Honda car sales in India. Honda Brio is expected to arrive during the festive season.

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Ford Figo

Report states that within first five months of FY 2012, Ford India got lucky enough with selling and exporting up to 51,000 cars while experiencing a 71 per cent growth.

Further Figo success story continues with exports to new markets in Asia and Africa. New investment of $72 million for the expansion of Chennai engine plant capacity takes overall investment in India to more than $1 billion.

In May, Ford India sold 51,420 units from January to May 2011 with more than 9,000 units sold in May alone. This includes 2000 units exported. Based on continued high demand, the company began exporting the Figo to Bahrain and Kenya this month.

Ford Figo remains in high demand in South Africa, where it was a runner up for South African Car of the Year. Michael Boneham, president and managing director of Ford India credits Ford Figo's fuel efficiency, value and innovation to be the reasons behind its encouraging sales.

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Toyota Kirloskar Motor

Despite hit in production hit and the consequent shortage of parts followed by subsequent delay in deliveries, Toyota sold 7470 units in May 2011 registering 24 per cent growth compared to the same period last year.

The major sales contributor remained Toyota Etios of which 3412 units were sold. Toyota Etios Liva is the car in waiting by this automaker which is a small hatchback offering.

The Toyota Etios Liva is expected to be launched on June 27.

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Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki India Limited sold a total of 104,073 vehicles in May with major growth witnessed in Maruti SX4, Maruti Dzire, Maruti Eeco sales.

Maruti SX4, Maruti Dzire sales grew by 24.2 per cent, while Maruti Eeco and Maruti Omni sales collectively grew by 20.0 per cent.

Similarly, the MUVs (including Maruti Gypsy, Maruti Grand Vitara) also got a good response in May '11 and its sales grew by 13.6 per cent. Surprisingly, Maruti 800 sales dipped by -11.6 per cent.

Also the major sales puller A2 segment which includes Maruti Alto, Wagon-R, Zen, Swift, Ritz, A-Star witnessed a downtrend of -2.6 per cent with the sale of 61048 units. Maruti sales in May '11 compared to May last year grew by 1.9 per cent.

Maruti is going to launch small car Maruti Cervo this Diwali.

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General Motors India

General Motors India registered a growth of 1.3 per cent with 8,329 units sold in May 2011. In the same month last year GM sold 8,225 units.

Chevrolet Spark remained the winner in sales with 3,023 units, Beat scored 2,144 units followed by Tavera of which 1,767 units were sold in May 2011.

Besides, Cruze, Optra, Aveo, Captiva Aveo U-VA also did well. P Balendran, vice president, GM India consider the plunge in sales to be the result of declining footfalls in the show-rooms due to the hike in interest rates, fuel prices, commodity prices and inflation.

He also expects the market to be in the same state for few months from now. Chevrolet Beat Diesel is the most awaited car by GM.

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Volkswagen India

Volkswagen sold 6,185 cars in May '11 compared to only 1,796 sold in May '10, a growth of 244 per cent.

The company attributes Volkswagen Polo to be the star performer but Volkswagen Vento can also be comfortably tagged to be the sales puller as it recently also surpassed Honda City sales in India.

Besides all new Volkswagen Passat with BlueMotion Technologies also attracted good sales in May.

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Tata Motors

India's Tata Group witnessed a dip of 9 per cent in sales of passenger vehicles in May with 21,549 units sold compared to 23,487 units sold in the same month last year.

However, Tata commercial vehicle sales grew by 19 per cent besides a growth of 24 per cent in the LCVs.

Strikingly, Tata Indica sales dipped by 35 per cent over May last year with only 5,497 unit sale. However, Tata Sumo, Safari, Aria, Venture range sales grew by 15 per cent over May last year.

The company's sales from exports increased by 39 per cent in May, over May last year.

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Hyundai India

India's second largest car manufacturer Hyundai's domestic sales grew by 14.6 per cent in May 2011 compared to the same month last year.

The Hyundai Verna Fluidic remained the attraction for all and a boon for the company with over 12,000 bookings since its launch on May 11.

In all, HMIL sold 31,123 units as against 27,151 units in May, 2010.

However the cumulative sales has a marginal growth of 2 per cent with 47,766 units sold in May this year compared to 46808 same month last year.

The A2 segment Hyundai cars including Hyundai Santro, i10, i20 remained the sales pullers with 40,520 units sale.

Hyundai Santro Diesel is the car that the car industry is waiting anxiously.

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Mahindra India

Continuing the uptrend saga, Mahindra registered a growth of 20 per cent in the sale of cars with 34,323 unit sale during May 2011 as against 28,488 units during May 2010.

The newly launched Mahindra Verito (erstwhile Mahindra Logan) sedan witnessed the highest sales and its sales grew by 185 per cent with 1291 units sold in May 2011, as against 450 units in May 2010.

The overall passenger vehicle segment that includes the Mahindra's utility vehicles as well as Verito registered a growth of 20 per cent, with 16,702 units sold in May 2011, as against 13,939 units during May 2010.