Statistics for the month of December were revealed by auto makers operating in the Indian car market. To say the least, results were really disappointing, culminating a year that eventually turned to be a forgettable one for most companies. A great indicator of the same would be the fact that Maruti Suzuki, India's largest passenger car maker, recorded a 4.4 per cent decline in overall sales, something that does not happen usually. Though domestic sales of Maruti Suzuki rose, total sales reduced from 95145 units to 90924 units. The decline in total sales is majorly due to a fall in exports of the company, as the company clocked a figure of just 4311 as compared to 1372 units in the corresponding period last year. Cars like M800, A-Star, Swift, SX4, Estilo and WagonR registered an increase of 6.4 per cent in comparison to the figure clocked in the same period last year. As per a report by IANS, things have been pretty gloomy for most auto makers in India, which includes some big names as well.
On the other hand, India's second largest passenger car maker, Hyundai, reported a minor increase of around 2.6 per cent, statistics claimed. Sales of the Indian subsidiary of the South Korean auto maker in December 2013 were 49069 units. Speaking on the same, Rakesh Srivastava, Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing at Hyundai, said, "With December retails of 45911 units, Hyundai achieved its Annual Business Plan and highest market share since inception. Manufacturing operated at 99 percent capacity utilization and had the fastest 5 million roll-out in India." Experts feel that the success of Grand i10 had a huge role to play in helping Hyundai record an increase in sales. While there was joy from the overall perspective, overseas sales fell down by 1.9 per cent, which was some sort of a setback for India's largest exporter of passenger cars.
Talking about Grand i10, Srivastava said, "Hyundai improved the channels efficiencies, launched new model Grand on new global platform, made strong initiatives in rural & exchange sales to increase its market share to highest level since inception and achieved the annual business plan. In 2014, Hyundai will launch many new products and new initiatives to build further on this positive momentum."
Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra continued to experience a drop in sales. In fact, the former saw a colossal drop of 42.28 per cent in December, which pretty much summed up its condition in the market. While the manufacturer of Nano sold 65582 cars in December 2012, the same figure for 2013 was 37852. Sales of passenger and commercial vehicles of Tata Motors fell by 34.63 per cent and 45.83 per cent, respectively.
Pravin Shah, Chief Executive at the Automotive Division of Mahindra & Mahindra, said, "The auto industry has seen a negative growth due to sustained deceleration in economic activity and consequent weakness in consumer and business sentiments. While the immediate turnaround in the auto industry is not expected without certain policy corrections and support, the worst seems to be over,"
The story was slightly different for American company Ford as it recorded a slight growth in overall sales for December 2013. Many experts believe that the success of EcoSport had a huge hand in influencing statistics for the American car maker. Toyota Kirloskar Motor recorded a fall of around 12.21 per cent in sales for December 2013. Honda, on the other hand, continuing its strong performance and riding on the success of Amaze, delivered a growth figure of 29 per cent as compared to 2012, which is quite impressive. Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice-President for Marketing and Sales at Honda Cars India Limited, said, "Year 2013 has been very good year for HCIL business as we crossed 1 lakh units domestic sales for the first time in a calendar year with a total sales volume of 107,661 units.” Experts feel Honda will continue to be a strong player in the market and will register top class figures in 2014 as well. Next-generation City is set to enter the Indian market in a few days time and there is great excitement around the same.
Reasons behind this sort of decline are not hidden any more as they have been points of concern for a long time now. Car makers in the country have been quite resilient, consistently trying to attract buyers by adopting new strategies. Some analysts feel that 2014 is going to be different as a number of exciting launches are coming up. In addition, Auto Expo, scheduled to be held in February, is going to have a role to play in regenerating interest of buyers.
