Car sales in India grew at a robust pace in July with market leader Maruti Suzuki India posting record monthly sales while others like Hyundai, M&M, Ford and Renault also registered strong numbers riding on positive sentiments brought by a good monsoon.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said it had its best ever monthly domestic sales in July at 1,25,778 units, up 13.9 per cent from 1,10,405 units in the same month last year.
Its growth was mainly on the back of sales of utility vehicles, including newly-launched compact SUV Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and the S-Cross, which surged over two-fold to 17,382 units in July this year from 6,916 units in the corresponding month last year.
The company's sales of mini segment cars, including Alto and WagonR, however, declined by 7.2 per cent to 35,051 units as compared to 37,752 units in the year-ago month.
Sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire and Baleno increased by 4.1 per cent to 50,362 units in July this year as against 48,381 units in the corresponding month last year.
Rival Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) sold 41,201 units in the domestic market last month as compared with 36,503 units in July last year, a growth of 12.87 per cent.
Commenting on the sales performance, HMIL Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said the company continued to sustain growth trajectory on the strength of strong pull performance of Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta.
The market has showed improved customer sentiments led by good monsoon, low inflation, reduced interest rates and dropping fuel prices, he said.
Homegrown utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported 14 per cent increase in its domestic sales at 35,305 units last month compared with 31,087 units in July 2015.
M&M Chief Executive (auto division) Pravin Shah said: "The advent of good monsoon so far has brought in positive sentiment for the economy and that is somewhat reflected in our performance."
Ford India said its domestic sales rose 62.21 per cent to 7,076 units last month as against 4,362 units in the same period a year ago.
Renault India also reported an over seven-fold increase in sales to 11,968 units in July as against 1,686 units same month last year.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) domestic sales grew by 2.76 per cent rise 12,404 units in July, 2016 as against 12,070 units in the same month last year.
Volkswagen India sold 4,447 units in August compared
with 4,191 last year, a growth of 6.10 per cent.
On the other hand, Honda Cars India reported a 10.94 per cent decline in domestic sales at 13,941 units in August.
In the two-wheeler segment, the country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp reported 28 per cent increase in sales at 6,16,424 units in August. It had sold 4,80,537 in August 2015.
Rival Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) logged 25 per cent increase in sales at 4,66,342 units last month against 3,73,136 in August last year.
India Yamaha Motor reported a 22 per cent increase in domestic sales at 74,868 in August. TVS Motor Company said its domestic two-wheeler sales grew 30.1 per cent to 2,38,984 units from 1,83,653 in August 2015.
Niche bike maker Royal Enfield saw its sales surge 32 per cent to 54,735 units in August as against 41,600 units in the same month a year before.
