Maruti, Toyota sales decline in May; Honda, GM India up

With automobile market continuing to reel under a slump, major car makers Maruti Suzuki India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported decline in domestic sales in May but Honda and General Motors posted good growth.

While Hyundai Motor India and Mahindra & Mahindra posted increase in domestic sales during the month, homegrown rival Tata Motors continued its sales slump in May.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Saturday reported 13 percent decline in domestic sales at 77,821 units as compared to 89,478 units in May last year.

While the company's sales of mini segment cars, including the M800, A-Star, Alto and WagonR, rose by 5.1 percent to 31,427 units, its compact cars, including the popular Swift model, saw a decline of 29.4 percent in sales at 17,147 units during the month.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported 35.33 percent decline in its domestic car sales at 10,023 units in May as against 15,501 units in the same month last year.

Commenting on sales, TKM Deputy Managing Director and COO (Marketing and Commercial) Sandeep Singh said: "The market continues to be sluggish. We have corrected the dealer's inventory levels and have been able to bring it down to less than 30 days."

Hyundai Motor India Ltd said its domestic sales stood at 32,102 units during the month, up 0.3 percent from 32,010 units in May 2012.

HMIL Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing Rakesh Srivastava said the market was at the near bottom level and was expected to move into positive growth in the coming months as the demand for the petrol cars was improving.

Honda Cars India (HCIL) reported 9.8 percent increase in its domestic sales for May 2013 at 11,342 units, its highest ever monthly sales on the back of its newly launched sedan Amaze, which clocked 6,036 units during the month.

Commenting on the numbers, HCIL Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said: "We expanded our operating universe with the new Honda Amaze which continues to receive great response from the first time buyers and consumers looking for a family car."

General Motors India also had a good month, posting 39.82 percent increase in sales at 8,500 units in May 2013.

"We were able to register the 40 per cent growth only because of the good response to our newly launched vehicles - Chevrolet SAIL and Chevrolet Enjoy," GM India Vice-President P Balendran said.

Homegrown major Mahindra & Mahindra said its domestic sales stood at 42,104 units as against 39,938 units in the same month last year, up 5.4 percent.

"We have achieved an overall growth of 5 per cent in our domestic volumes during May 2013 for our automotive sector, in spite of a challenging environment. The growth in capital investment and private spending have also slowed down which is a cause for concern," M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said.

Tata Motors said its total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 11,134 units in May, down 45.69 percent from 20,503 units in the same month last year.

Renault India reported 13-fold increase in its total sales in May at 6,013 units riding on its popular SUV Duster.

"We are still having a good demand for the Duster but for the overall industry it is a tough environment and the economic growth figures are not so encouraging for the sector," Renault India Executive Director Sales & Marketing Sumit Sawhney said.

Ford India's domestic sales in May went down by 33.69 percent to 4,002 units as against 6,036 units in the same month last year.

In the two-wheeler segment, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) reported three percent growth in its total sales for May 2013 at 2,29,006 units.

Chennai-based 7.5 percent decline in domestic market at 1,40,046 units in May 2013 as against 1,51,980 units in the year-ago month.

Yamaha Motor India Sales (YMIS), however, registered a rise of 30 percent in its domestic sales at 34,104 units compared to 26,287 units in the year-ago period.