November sales: a mixed bag for the auto industry (Roundup)

New Delhi/Chennai, Dec 1 (IANS) November was a mixed bag for the Indian automobile industry, which was looking forward to good festive sales in an otherwise sluggish market, monthly sales figures showed Saturday.

Buyers brought good news for Maruti and Mahindra & Mahindra, while others like Tata Motors and Hyundai lost ground.

Passenger car major Maruti Suzuki logged a healthy sales growth of 12.5 percent at 103,200 units in November as against 91,772 units sold in the corresponding period last year.

According to the company, its domestic sales increased by 9.7 percent in November and stood at 90,882 units from 82,870 units sold in the like period of last year.

Exports in the month grew by 38.4 percent and stood at 12,318 units, from 8,902 units sold in November 2011.

Leading sports utility vehicle (SUV) manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra’s total sales in November rose 18 percent year-on-year to 48,143 units.

It had sold 40,722 units sold in the like period of last year.

The company said its domestic sales increased 23 percent and stood at 46,755 units during the month under review from 38,159 units sold during November 2011.

The exports, however, declined a hefty 46 percent at 1,388 units from 2,563 units in November last year.

The company expressed concern over high interest rates and said it hoped the monetary policy would be eased in the last quarter of 2012-13.

“Till there is a decrease in interest rates for corporate or retail credits, financing rates will remain high for auto customers which is a cause of concern,” said Pravin Shah, chief executive, automotive division, M&M.

“However, we expect interest rates to reduce during the last quarter of the current financial year.”

Tata Motors’ last month festive season sales turned sour with a 13.96 percent decline in domestic market

The offtake stood at 62,354 units from 72,477 units sold in corresponding month of 2011.

Segment-wise, passenger vehicles sales was down 34.98 percent at 18,031 units.

Commercial vehicles sales was marginally down by 0.91 percent at 44,323 units.

The company’s sales from exports at 4,146 units in November 2012 are lower by 4.66 percent compared to 4,349 units in the same month last year.

Chennai-based Hyundai Motor (HMIL) logged a marginal decline of 2.3 percent for the month under review. Sales stood at 55,762 units from 57,071 units sold in the same period of 2011.

While, domestic sales declined by 0.7 percent at 34,751 units, exports plummetted by 4.8 percent in the month under review at 21,011 units from 22,071 units shipped out in November 2011.

“The adverse market conditions due to high interest rates and inflation continued to pose challenges for growth,” said Rakesh Srivastava, vice president sales, HMIL.

IANS 2012-12-01 18:46:16