Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Feb 1: Domestic car sales in 2016 began on a subdued note, with market leader Maruti Suzuki posting a marginal increase in January and the likes of Hyundai, Ford and Mahindra & Mahindra reporting a single-digit growth. The home-grown auto major Tata Motors and Honda Cars India saw their domestic sales dip in January even as the industry tries to build momentum for the year, with the Auto Expo just round the corner.
Maruti Suzuki India said its domestic sales increased marginally by 0.8 per cent to 1,06,383 units as against 1,05,559 in January 2015. “Domestic sales would have been higher, but lesser number of working days in January 2016 impacted overall production and dispatch,” the company said in a statement. Maruti saw sales in mini car segment comprising Alto and WagonR decline by 4.3 per cent to 34,206 units during the month as against 35,750 in the same month last year. Sales of premium hatchback, including Swift, Ritz, Celerio, Baleno and Dzire, saw a slump of 2.8 per cent at 44,575 units as against 45,881 last year.
Rival Hyundai Motor India’s domestic sales jumped 9.3 per cent to 38,016 units last month compared with 34,780 units in January 2015. HMIL Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said the growth momentum of last year continued during the month built by strong performance of products like Grand, Creta and i20 Elite/Active. “We look forward to presenting the Hyundai Experience at the Auto Expo through our products and technology towards meeting the growing aspirations of customers,” Srivastava said.
The Auto Expo will be held on February 5-9 at Greater Noida. Deloitte India Senior Director Savan Godiawala said: “With enhanced promotion and offers during December 2015 by most of the auto companies, there is a possibility of stagnant or sliding sales in the initial months of 2016.” Home-grown utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra saw its domestic sales grow 9.84 per cent to 40,693 units last month as against 37,045 in January 2015.
German auto major Volkswagen reported 7.6 per cent increase in sales in India at 4,018 units in January compared with 3,734 units sold in the corresponding month last year. On the sales performance, Volkswagen Group Sales India, Director (Volkswagen Passenger Cars) Michael Mayer said, “We attribute this success to a consistent overall performance of our highly popular carlines, the Polo, Vento and Jetta, supported by an encouraging response to the recently launched 21st century Beetle.”
