Jul 11 2011 , New Delhi
Domestic passenger car sales saw its slowest growth in 27 months in June this year at 1.62 per cent, mainly due to hikes in lending rates and production loss due to the 13-day strike at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar unit.
Car sales in India stood at 1,43,370 units in June, this year against 1,41,086 units in the same month last year, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers on Monday. “This is the slowest growth rate since March, 2009, when the increase was just 1.16 per cent,” SIAM senior director Sugato Sen said. The auto industry has started slowing down in this fiscal with the passenger car segment growing by only 7 per cent in May. Before that, that car sales grew by just single digit was in June, 2009, at 8.23 per cent.
“All the segments grew moderately. Interest rates hike and rising fuel prices have affected the consumers’ decision to buy vehicles,” SIAM president Pawan Goenka said. The passenger vehicle segment’s lower than expected performance was also because of the 13-day long strike at the market leader Maruti Suzuki’s plant in June that had resulted in production loss of about 12,600 units.
“Another major car maker Tata Motors’ sales were also down,” Goenka said. During the month, Maruti Suzuki India posted a 6.39 per cent decline in domestic car sales at 57,653 units. Rival Hyundai Motor India's sales grew by 10.73 per cent at 30,302. Tata Motors saw a decline of 23.49 per cent in sales to 18,522 units during the month.
According to SIAM, the total two-wheeler sales increased by 14.59 per cent last month to 10,71,425 units from 9,34,975 units in June, 2010. Motorcycle sales grew by 14.97 per cent during the month to 8,25,323 units from 7,17,859 units last June. Hero Honda continued its impressive performance with a 19.55 per cent increase in sales to 4,68,310 units. Rival Bajaj Auto also posted a 12.06 per cent increase to 2,08,883 units during the month, while Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bike sales grow by 4.31 per cent to 61,435 units. TVS Motor saw its motorcycle sales falling marginally to 50,835 units during the month.
The scooters segment witnessed a growth of 10.99 per cent in sales during June this year to 1,82,653 units from 1,64,567 units in the same month last year. HMSI’s scooter sales during the month were down 2.87 per cent to 76,310 units, while that of TVS Motor grew by 12.46 per cent at 41,012 units. Hero Honda’s scooter sales during the month grew by 35.10 per cent to 33,253 units.
Three-wheeler sales during June grew by 4.33 per cent to 40,550 units as against 38,868 in the same month last year. Sales of commercial vehicles jumped by 17.83 per cent to 62,009 units from 52,627 units in the year-ago period.
Light commercial vehicles sales grew by 29.35 per cent to 34,393 units from 26,590 units last year. Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales stood at 27,616 units as against 26,037 units in June last year, up 6.06 per cent, SIAM said. Total sales of vehicles across categories registered a growth of 12.84 per cent to 13,62,984 units in June compared to 12,07,934 units in the same month last year, it added.
In view of rising interest rates and fuel prices, SIAM also lowered its vehicle sales growth forecast for FY’12 to 11-13 per cent from 12-15 per cent announced three months ago. It also predicted a lower growth of 10-12 per cent during 2011-12, against 16-18 per cent announced earlier. It, however, said India became the top growing car market in the world during the January-June period this year, overtaking the US, which grew at 14.40 per cent. Goenka said commodity prices, which are another big concern for the auto industry, have started softening in recent months and hence, it is unlikely that any company will raise the prices of their products.
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