Passenger car sales down 13.2% in April, two-wheeler sales up 26.4%.
After posting strong double-digit growth rates last financial year, passenger car sales in the domestic market slowed to a moderate 13.2 per cent in April on the back of rising interest rates and declining consumer confidence.
Last month 162,825 cars were sold, which is an increase of 13.2 per cent over the 143,862 units sold in April last year. The growth recorded last month in the segment is the lowest in over 22 months.
Senior director, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Sugato Sen said, “Sales growth has been low due to declining consumer confidence. The lowest growth rate was recorded in June 2009 at 8.2 per cent.” He said, the increase in interest rates and rise in prices of vehicles due to spiralling input costs have resulted in postponing of purchase decisions.
According to data available with the industry body, the overall vehicle sales across categories registered a growth of 22.8 per cent to 1,338,564 units in April compared to 1,090,041 units sold in the same month last year.
The country’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), for the time over a year, registered single-digit growth of 8.9 per cent in domestic sales at 87,144 units. The company has reported average sales of more than 100,000 units in the domestic market over the last three months.
In the passenger car segment, MSIL’s sales grew 7.6 per cent to 73,905 units, while rival Hyundai Motor India's sales increased 10.89 per cent to 31,604 units. Tata Motors’ passenger car sales were down 1.1 per cent at 19,544 units.
TWO-WHEELER SALES SOARS
Total two-wheeler sales last month increased 26.4 per cent to 1,043,970 units from 825,632 units in April, 2010. Motorcycle sales in the country shot up 23.4 per cent during the month to 809,565 units from 656,096 units in the same month last year. Hero Honda posted a 38.6 per cent jump in sales to 469,398 units. Bajaj Auto’s sales went up by 4.2 per cent to 195,971 units.
In the scooter segment overall sales grew 48 per cent to 175,054 units from 118,232 units.
In the three-wheeler category, sales grew by 1.9 per cent to 33,788 units from 33,144 units in the same month last year. Commercial vehicles sales grew by 8.2 per cent to 53,202 units from 49,162 units in the year-ago period, SIAM said.
Sen said this was the slowest growth rate since September 2009, when the growth rate was 7.5 per cent. “Commercial vehicle sales reflect buoyancy in the economy. The slow growth rate mirrors concerns surfacing in the economy.”
Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle (M&HCV) sales increased marginally to 22,391 units during the month, compared to 22,236 units in April last year. Light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales grew 14.4 per cent to 30,811 units in April, 2011, from 26,926 units in April, 2010.
"In the passenger carriers segment, the industry has a major problem with companies having issues with various states over purchases of buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Some states have not honoured order commitments while some have not paid companies after taking deliveries," he said.
Passenger carrier sales in the M&HCV category dipped 20 per cent to 2,667 units in April, while in the LCV segment, sales declined 25.9 per cent in April this year to 3,321 units.
