SIAM: 34 percent hike in the overall exports of passenger vehicles

With strong sales volumes reported by Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor and Toyota Kirloskar in non-European countries, passenger exports from India marked a growth of 34.16 per cent in May 2012. A total of 45,036 cars were exported in the fifth month of the current year as compared to 33,750 units in the same period last year, as per the statistics released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Vishnu Mathur, Director General, SIAM, said, "Europe still continues to be a worry, but the growth that we have seen is mainly on account of new markets that the companies have developed."

A growth of 42.16 per cent was reported by Hyundai India as it exported 23,659 cars in May 2012 as against 16,643 units in the corresponding month last year. According to a company spokesperson, "On account of slackness in the domestic market in May, we took the opportunity to ramp up the back orders for the export market. We had higher sales of the Eon in Algeria, the i20 in South Africa and the i10 in South America, particularly in Mexico and Columbia."

On the other hand, the sales volumes of India's largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, in foreign markets fell to 9,363 models from 10,337 units last year at a rate of 9.42 per cent, according to SIAM. Nissan Motors witnessed a twofold increase in its exports from 3,937 cars exported in May 2011 to 8,157 models shipped last month. Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 1,693 vehicles in South Africa after commencing exports from the country in April 2011. Meanwhile, a dip of 15.81 per cent was reported by Ford India as its overseas sales stood at 1,693 units as compared to 2,011 units sold last year.

With export volumes of 372 units in May 2012 against 281 units shipped overseas last year in the same month, domestic automotive giant Tata Motors marked a growth of 32.38 per cent. Notably, the total exports across all the categories in May 2012 witnessed a growth of 4.62 per cent as 2,46,314 units were exported in all against 2,35,429 vehicles exported last year, as per SIAM.

Speaking of two wheelers, the total exports stood at 1,74,362 units in May 2012 against 1,61,346 units in the corresponding month a year ago, which translates into a growth of 8.07 per cent. The sales of motorcycles in the foreign markets went up by 5.16 per cent with 1,63,446 units sold compared to 1,55,419 units in 2011. According to SIAM, with exports of 10,660 units in May 2012 against 5,695 vehicles in May 2011, the scooter segment marked a growth of 87.18 per cent. On the other hand, the exports of commercial vehicles went down by 8.72 per cent as the figures stood at 7,861 units for May 2012 compared to 8,612 units in the same month of 2011.