Escaping the low sales trend in the month of December, brands like Hyundai Motor, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp have registered an increase in sales in the last month of 2011. However, Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest automobile manufacturer, was not as lucky because its monthly sales dropped for the seventh time in a row during 2011.
Usually sales in December are low as customers refrain from buying cars as they may get lesser re-sale value due to ‘the year of manufacture.’ Yet industry experts feel that the increase in sales of December 2011 could be because of the rise in car prices from January 2012.
Maruti Suzuki India registered total sales of 77,475 units (domestic market) in December 2011 which was 89,469 units in December 2010, leading to a fall of 13.4 per cent. In contrast to this, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), sales rose 12.8 percent to 29,516 units, which were only 26,168 units in December 2010. Arvind Saxena, Director (Marketing and Sales), HMIL, said “An increase of 12.8 per cent in sales in December gives us a cause for some cheer in a year that has been below expectations. We don't expect an upturn in the market in the near future."
Tata Motors witnessed an increase in sales by 46.79 per cent in December 2011. The total units sold were 28,916 while in December 2010 the total amounted to 19,699 only. Mahindra and Mahindra sales increased from 15,601 units (December 2010) to 19,341 units (December 2011) leading to a rise of 23.97 per cent. Year-over-year, Toyota Kirloskar Motors’ sales increased almost two times more to 15,948 units from 6,362 units.
Automobile manufacturer, General Motors India, recorded a rise of 6.74 per cent in sales to 9,039 units in December 2011 from 8,468 units of December 2010. P Balendran, Vice President, General Motors India, said “We have been able to sustain the growth primarily due to the encouraging response to Chevrolet Beat. Other carlines like Spark, Cruze and Tavera have also generated substantial volumes for the company.”
Correspondingly, manufacturers like Ford India and Nissan Motor India also witnessed a jump in sales of December 2011. Ford India rose by 39 per cent while Nissan Motor India increased by 44.57 per cent from the previous year in the same month.
In the two-wheelers segment, Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Bajaj Auto recorded a rise in sales while TVS Motor Company recorded a slight fall in December 2011. Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India and Bajaj Auto rose 7.8 per cent, 36.15 per cent and 8.22, respectively, from December 2010.
