After more than two years, Tata Motors has dislodged Korea’s Hyundai Motors in India from the second spot in monthly domestic passenger vehicle sales. The spurt in Tata’s June numbers has primarily been due to a dramatic increase in sales of the Nano, after the mother plant at Sanand in Gujarat went onstream last month, as well as a surge in that of the Indigo.
Tata Motors’ domestic sales went up by 63.2 per cent in June, with the company selling 27,811 units compared with 17,039 in the same month last year. Hyundai saw its car sales grow by 18.9 per cent, selling 27,366 units.
Sales of the Nano, the much-reported small car of Tata, more than doubled from an average of 3,500 units in recent months to 7,704 in June, pushing up overall numbers. The Indigo range recorded sales of 7,502 units, growth of 113 per cent over June last year, when 3,522 units were sold.
A Tata Motors’ spokesperson said: “Going forward, our expectation would be to maintain the No 2 position in the industry.”
Analysts said Tata would be able to sustain its growth in sales. “The newly-created Nano segment has huge opportunities and, therefore, Tata Motors is likely to sustain its numbers because of the higher volumes it will generate,” said Abdul Majeed, national head of automotive practice in PricewaterhouseCoopers.
However, Hyundai executives said that as they made only passenger cars, unlike utility vehicles made by Tata such as the Sumo, the comparison should be only within the former category, where the Korean major is still No 2.
| POLE POSITION | |||
| June ‘09 | June ’10 | Growth (%) | |
| Maruti | 61,773 | 72,812 | 17.9 |
| Tata Motors | 17,039 | 27,811 | 63.2 |
| Hyundai | 23,016 | 27,366 | 18.9 |
| M&M* | 18,154 | 17,573 | -3.2 |
| GM India | 4,492 | 9,539 | 112.0 |
| Ford India | 1,982 | 7,269 | 267.0 |
| Toyota Kirloskar | 4,367 | 6,180 | 42.0 |
| Honda Siel | 5,048 | 4,595 | -8.9 |
| Fiat India | 2,474 | 2,137 | -13.6 |
| SkodaAuto India | 1,145 | 1,638 | 43.0 |
| Total | 139,490 | 176,920 | 26.8 |
| *Domestic sales of utility vehicles and Logan | |||
Others are more sceptical of a Tata lead. “While Nano numbers are the pre-sold orders and the company is only accelerating the deliveries from its new plant, we need to wait and watch for at least a quarter to see if it is sustainable. Moreover, Tata’s will need more products in the passenger car category to remain ahead of Hyundai in the long run,” said Rakesh Batra, national head (automotive practice), Ernst & Young. More, as Hyundai would be launching a small sub-Santro car, whose date of launch has not been disclosed.
Buoyed by a spurt in demand, the overall passenger vehicles’ market continued its steady growth, with sales up by 26.8 per cent in the month. As many as 176,920 units were sold by leading auto companies (see chart). Maruti Suzuki continued to be in the top spot, selling 72,812 units, much ahead of the competition, a growth of 17.9 per cent. “The growth in June is extremely high as you must remember the base was very high last year in June,” said R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki. “The fundamentals of the economy are good and demand is picking up on the back of new models. The industry is expecting an annual growth of 12 per cent in 2010-11”.
Many of the new car models have helped their companies to show good numbers. GM India saw its sales go up 112 per cent in June, thanks to growing demand for its recently launched Beat, which sold 3,415 units. Ford India has a three-month waiting list for its small car, the Figo.