Renault and Ford on a sales high

We may be in the midst of a sales slowdown, but there are still some star performers that are bringing in the numbers for their respective companies.

Case in point, the Renault Duster. For the month of July, the carmaker sold 3,089 units of the popular compact SUV, which accounted for a majority of Renault's sales for the month. The Scala sold 371 units, the Pulse found 292 new homes, the Fluence 10, and the Koleos a paltry 1. This led to cumulative sales of 3,763 units for Renualt in July, 2013 compared to 1,776 units in July 2012.

The carmaker has, over the past two years, expanded its dealership network significantly from 14 outlets way back in May 2011 to 100 locations at the end of 2012, which encapsulates just how serious Renault is about the Indian market.

Ford had plenty of reason to celebrate for the month of July, 2013 as well. The carmaker clocked its highest sales figure in its 17-year history in India, with 12,338 units sold (domestic and export). It racked up a total of 7,867 units sold in the domestic market in July, 2013, representing a 26 percent increase compared to July 2012, when it sold 6,236 units. In terms of exports, it managed 4,471 units in the month, its highest number ever, which is an increase of 114 percent year-on-year from 2,087 units.

According to the company, the EcoSport compact SUV, launched towards the end of June, clocked 30,000 bookings in the first 17 days after it was launched.

Maruti also heaved a sigh of relief as July was the first month in which it posted a positive numbers tally since the beginning of 2013-14. It sold 75,145 units in the local market, up 5.8 percent over the 71,024 units sold in July 2012.

The Dzire managed to sell 15,249 units, up 33 percent over the 11,413 units sold in July 2012. In the small car segment comprising the Alto, A-star, M800 and WagonR, it sold 33,587 units, an increase of 15 percent over the year-earlier month, while the Swift, Estilo and Ritz managed 13,882 units, down 11.9 percent from 15,759 units sold in July 2012.

On the export front, July numbers were down 27 percent with 8,154 units sold as against 11,210 units sold in July 2012.