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Festive season failed to lift the spirits of car makers, as major manufacturers Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai registered flat domestic sales growth in October.
While homegrown firms Mahindra and Tata Motors reported decline in their sales, their global rivals like Toyota, Honda, Ford and General Motors witnessed growth during the month riding on new and refreshed model launches.
Two-wheeler makers Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India posted healthy growth in October riding on festive season and robust rural sales buoyed by good monsoons.
Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) posted a marginal increase in its domestic sales at 96,062 units as against 96,002 vehicles in October last year.
The company's sales in mini-car segment, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, declined by 6.8% to 39,379 units last month.
MSI's sales in the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz also declined by 1.2% to 22,188 units in October.
Hyundai's domestic sales were marginally up at 36,002 units during the month, from 35,778 units in October 2012.
HMIL Senior Vice-President Sales and Marketing Rakesh Srivastava described the situation as a "challenging market environment".
Tata Motors registered a decline of 33% in its total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market in October at 14,133 units. Similarly, Mahindra & Mahindra domestic sales declined by 6.87% in October at 47,787 units.
However, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) posted a 38.70% increase in its domestic sales in October at 11,214 units, riding on the success of its entry level sedan Amaze.
"HCIL is starting 3rd shift for production in our Greater Noida plant from this month to reduce waiting period and aid in quick delivery of cars," HCIL Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said.
Similarly, on account of good numbers by its sports utility vehicle EcoSport, Ford posted a rise of 21% in its sales in October at 9,163 units.
"Led by the Ford EcoSport, our product portfolio has helped our sales momentum continue to grow amidst a challenging economic environment," Ford India Executive Director (Marketing, Sales and Service) Vinay Piparsania said.
General Motors India too reported 14.22% rise in sales at 7,715 units during the last month.
"The marginal sales rebound seen last month is on account of the festival season combined with the emerging demand for new entries," GM India Vice-President P Balendran said.
Balendran said discounts are at its peak and sales of diesel vehicles are tapering off as the price differential between the two fuels is dropping sharply.
"Going by the market scenario, we expect the challenging times to continue as the general economic conditions have not improved. The buoyancy in the market is completely missing and we don't see any sustained market upturn before a new government assumes office after general elections," he added.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor posted a rise of 7% in sales in October at 13,162 units.
"October has seen good sales as the festive season has helped us in generating good numbers of inquiries and orders," Toyota Kirloskar Motor Deputy Managing Director and COO (Marketing and Commercial) Sandeep Singh said.
In the two-wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp reported 18.17% rise in total sales at 6,25,420 units in October this year. This is the first time that the company has sold over 6 lakh units in a month.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India also reported 50.05% growth in sales at 3,75,741 units for October 2013. Similarly, Yamaha Motor India Sales also reported 30% growth in total sales at 64,552 during October 2013 as compared to the corresponding period last year.
Chennai-based TVS Motor Co reported 4% increase in total sales in October at 1,97,905 units as against 1,90,438 units in the same month last year.
