Leading retail broking firm of India, Nirmal Bang has released its report on automobile sales in India, after a thorough analysis of the sales datasheets of the various auto majors . Cumulatively, the report reveals a mixed trend, but majority of the companies have shown a slowdown. As the first half of the year, 2012 came to an end on 30 June, all the enterprises have released their sales figures.
The effects of the fuel price hike in May were clearly seen in the stockpiling of unsold units in the automobile manufacturing units all over the country. Passenger car business was most affected with decline in sales of most of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Talking of the figures, Honda Siel, Tata Motors, Ford India and GM India reported decline in sales by 22.8% 21.6%, 21.1% and 10.7%, respectively, on YoY basis.
Domestic sales suffered extensively as evidenced by the sales release of Hyundai India to name one. However, Maruti Suzuki’s domestic sales showed an upward trend of 19.3% ; this was accounted to the high demand for crowd puller models like Swift, Dzire and Ertiga . People's car, Tata Nano also upsurged its sales by 3%. Mahindra & Mahindra emerged as the winner in the utility vehicle segment , in addition to reporting a 27% growth in exports.
The two-wheeler manufacturers also had mixed outcomes ; Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) and Hero MotoCorp (HMCL) showed a positive trend, but TVS Motors and Bajaj Auto lost out on the number game. In the commercial vehicle segment, medium and heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) makers faced a slowdown but the manufacturers of light commercial vehicles had reasons to rejoice as both Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported double-digit growth on YoY basis to carry on their growth momentum.
Nirmal Bang predicts that automobile sales in the near term will remain under pressure in the wake of recent fuel price hike and a weak macro-economic environment, although a recovery is expected in 2HFY13.
