The key players of Indian auto market like Maruti Suzuki, Ford and Honda have reported an increase in their sales for the month of July 2013, while some of them witnessed not so good times. The country's largest passenger car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited registered a growth of 5.8 per cent in its domestic sales, amounting to 75,145 units, backed by a brilliant demand for the mini segment cars like Alto, A-Star and WagonR, and compact sedan Swift DZire. The models in mini segment reported a growth of 15.8 per cent to 33,587 units, while sales of Swift DZire stood at 15,249 units, resulting in 33.6 per cent growth.
Following the trend of growth in July 2013, the Japanese auto maker, Honda Cars India Limited also reported an increase of almost 2.5 times in its local demand, resulting at 11,223 units, backed by the strong demand for its recently introduced entry level sedan Amaze. On the success of Amaze, the Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) of Honda Cars India Limited, Jnaneswar Sen was quoted as saying, “Honda Amaze has clocked its highest monthly sales of 6,515 units during July 2013 and is maintaining very good growth momentum having sold more than 24,000 units sold since its launch.”
It must be noted that the Indian arm of American auto maker, Ford, registered its record monthly sales, because of its flagship compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) EcoSport, which has turned the tides in its favour. During the month, the domestic sales of Ford India went up by 26.15 per cent, amounting to 7,867 units, over 6,236 units sold in the corresponding period of 2012. Expressing his delight on this brilliant performance, the Executive Director, (Marketing, Sales and Service) of Ford India, Vinay Piparsania said “Despite the near-term difficulty in the economy, our customers have put their trust in the urban SUV EcoSport and with the Figo ranking as the best premium compact car in the prestigious JD Power India vehicle dependability study 2013, we are delighted to achieve the highest-ever sales in our history this month.”
The French auto maker Renault also registered a two-fold increase in its sales during July 2013 at 3,763 units, when compared to 1,776 units delivered in the same month of last year. On the other hand, a number of auto makers were also seen struggling during the month, because of a prolonged slump that has dwindled the country's economic growth and increased fuel prices. The total passenger vehicle sales of Tata Motors, the country's largest auto maker, marked 10,824 units in July 2013, with a fall of 58.75 per cent, against 26,240 units reported in the year-ago period. On a similar pattern, the home sales of Mahindra & Mahindra's went down by 19.41 per cent, amounting to 34,490 units over 42,799 units reported in the year-ago period of 2012.
