The new financial year started on a buoyant note for passenger carmakers as collective sales grew by a substantial 19% in April this year, over last year in the same month . The high growth in sales comes on the back of a a subdued 2014-15 when sales of cars was much below the double digits, of only 6.8%.
New launches, promotional schemes and sustained demand in the urban markets last month helped automakers as per the data released by seven top automakers that make up for 85% of the total domestic volume, to sell 186,197 units in wholesale last month as against 156,419 units in April last year.
The on-going wedding season, lower fuel prices and ease in lending rates by banks also helped improve buyer sentiments, say car makers. Enquiry levels at dealerships have shown improvement compared to earlier months but levels of discounts have remained stubbornly high especially on immobile models.
Reflecting on the clear signs of sales growth R C Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki said: “In March the retails were very good. Inventory has come down with dealers and with us. That is why April needed to be filled up. April has been a good month which is otherwise a bad month usually. People usually prepone their purchase to March for different reasons, which makes April sales look bad”.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki led the growth with sales settling above 100,000, an increase of 27% during the month compared to the same month last year. Its new launches Ciaz, Celerio and Alto were the crowd pullers for the month with two of those models being made available in automatic gear shift, a new transmission technology that’s fast catching up with consumers.
The Delhi-based car maker has been clocking sales in excess of 100,000 units every month which was the usual pattern in the months before the industry hit a slowdown phase. Though Bhargava said that retails are looking up he also cautioned about the low base effect of last year.
Korean brand Hyundai, the country's second biggest car maker, followed suit with an increase of 10% during the month. Its top-selling model Elite i20 and Grand i10 improved overall sales despite the absence of Santro, which was recently phased out by the company.
Rakesh Srivastava, Senior VP- Sales and Marketing, HMIL however prefers to be cautious and says: “Last few months there has been a positivity in the market but the unseasonal rains may effect the rural buying due to low disposable income as harvest has got deffered or there has been loses. In addition the rise in fuel prices may impact customer sentiments overall increasing the challenges”.
Utility vehicle market leader Mahindra & Mahindra, which posted a fall of more than 8% last year too posted a growth of 1% in April. Lack of new launches had severely impacted sales of M&M last year even as the competition continued with new launches and refreshments. However the company managed to regain the third spot last month displacing Honda Cars India.
Pravin Shah, president and chief executive (automotive), M&M said, “The auto industry is hopeful of a better financial year as we see positive sentiments on the back of various policy and project announcements leading to higher levels of economic activity. At Mahindra we expect to perform better given the positive sentiments and the upcoming launches of our new products”.
On the back of strong demand for the City sedan which now makes up 65% of the total domestic volume of Honda Cars India, the company managed a growth of 14% in April. Sales grew to 12636 units in April even as the company battled with a production issue at one of its plants during the month.
Toyota Kirloskar managed to outpace all its rivals with a growth of 63% in April. Demand was seen for its Etios series. N Raja, Director and Senior Vice - President, Sales and Marketing, Toyota Kirloskar said, “The growth in sales can be attributed to the growing popularity of our Etios series, especially after the introduction of the Etios Cross last year. The Etios series along with the new Corolla Altis has helped us achieve a consistent growth month on month.”
Toyota announced the launch of new Camry Hybrid, which will be available in the market starting today.
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