Automobile sales plunge in July

India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India registered its steepest single-month sales decline ever, leading an industry slump in car sales in July as consumers hard-pressed by interest rate and fuel price hikes controlled purchases.

Maruti, which sells almost every second car in the country, saw an over 26% decline in sales over last year. The other two big car-makers - Hyundai and Tata - did not fare any better, with sales dipping 11% and 38.3% respectively.

Only companies like Toyota and General Motors, which launched new products, and small players such as Volkswagen, Skoda and Nissan grew.

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'The July 2011 sales for both the industry and Hyundai are negative,' said Arvind Saxena, director marketing and sales, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. 'Customer enquiries have increased, but conversion rate (into sales) has slowed down.'