Top car makers report decline in domestic sales in February

Car makers had a difficult month in February with leading companies, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors, reporting decline in their domestic monthly sales as market continues to reel under tough macro economic conditions.

The two-wheeler segment also saw sluggish sales with the market Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor witnessing their sales going down in last month.

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India recorded domestic sales of 97,955 units in February, 2013 compared to 1,07,653 units in the year-ago period, registering a fall of 9.01 per cent.

Rival Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) recorded a decline of 7.62 per cent in domestic sales at 34,002 units compared to 36,805 units in the year-ago period.

'The market was suppressed as there was drop in enquiries with lower rates of conversions to purchase. The increase in fuel prices negatively impacted the already low market sentiments,' HMIL Vice President (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said.

The company expects the challenge to continue in the next quarter until there is a significant change in macro-economic conditions, he added.

Homegrown Tata Motors' total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 10,613 units in February, down 69.53 per cent from 34,832 units in the same month last year.

However, rival Mahindra & Mahindra's total sales of passenger vehicles, including Scorpio, XUV500, Xylo, Bolero and Verito, stood at 23,421 units as against 20,573 units in February 2012, translating into 13.84 per cent increase.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported 23.43 per cent decrease in its domestic car sales at 12,756 units in February 2013. It had sold 16,659 units in the corresponding month of last year.

Commenting on numbers, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Deputy Managing Director and COO (Marketing and Commercial) Sandeep Singh said: 'The market continues to remain sluggish and the with the additional excise duty levied on SUV and UV, the market will be further impacted.' General Motors India witnessed 20.17 per cent decline in its sales at 7,106 units compared to 8,901 units in the same month of 2012.

'Although we have generated the volumes for Chevrolet Sails as expected, the overall numbers inclusive of other models were not on the expected lines as the market continues to remain subdued,' GM India Vice President P Balendran said.

With excise duty also going up for certain categories of vehicles, the market is not expected to improve in the coming months also as the macro economic uncertainties still continue, he added.