Auto makers in India continued to reported higher monthly vehicle sales with some even reporting their highest volumes ever as the economic recovery and an easier availability of low-cost loans continued to fuel demand for cars and motorcycles in the country, boosting January sales.
Hero Honda Motors Ltd. and the local unit of Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. were among those who said local sales rose in the past month over a year earlier.
But it was Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd. and the Indian unit of General Motors Co. who clocked-in their highest-ever monthly sales in the country where demand for just cars and sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, is estimated to grow to 3.0 million units by 2016.
Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the country's biggest car maker by sales, posted its highest total and local sales ever during the month.
"Demand remains strong in the passenger vehicle space and the commercial vehicle recovery is gathering pace," Sanjay Doshi, a Mumbai-based analyst at Macquarie Equities Research said in a recent note. "We expect medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales to remain strong, mainly on the back of the economic recovery."
The introduction of new models is boosting sales for auto companies too.
In January, during New Delhi's Auto Expo, GM, Tata Motors, Volkswagen AG and Maruti Suzuki either launched, or unveiled, several new models. This includes GM's Chevrolet Beat hatchback, Tata Motor's Aria multipurpose vehicle and Maruti Suzuki's Eeco van and sedan, Kizashi.
Global auto makers, in a bid to offset dwindling sales in Europe and the United States have looked towards growing markets to help curtail the slumps in their traditional strongholds.
January sales were also partly helped by the delayed purchases of customers who had put off buying in December till January to avoid getting vehicles with the previous year's registration, as that could lower their resale value.
January Auto Sales
Maruti Suzuki, the local unit of Suzuki Motor Corp. posted a 33% rise in its January total sales to 95,649 vehicles, breaking its previous record of 87,807 vehicles sold in November 2009.
The company's local sales grew 21% to 81,087 vehicles, beating the earlier record of 76,359 units sold in November. Meanwhile, exports jumped more than threefold to 14,562 vehicles.
European nations have been promoting fuel-efficient small car sales by offering several cash-back schemes, helping companies who sell such cars, including Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, to sell more units there.
Total sales at India's Tata Motors, the maker of the world's cheapest car, the Nano, rose 77% to 65,478 vehicles from 36,931 units a year earlier. Local sales grew 74% to 62,202 vehicles.
The local sales of cars and SUVs of Tata Motors rose 43% to 26,245 vehicles, the highest-ever in a month for the company. It sold 4,001 units of its Nano mini-car.
Tata Motors' local truck and bus sales rose more than twofold to 35,357 vehicles. Sales of medium and heavy trucks also more-than-doubled to 15,702 units, while the company's sales of light trucks climbed 75% to 20,255 units, from a year earlier.
The company's exports also more-than-doubled to 3,276 units.
At Mahindra, sales, excluding those of tractors, grew 71% to 30,149 vehicles from 17,611 vehicles in the year earlier month.
Local sales of Mahindra's SUVs, the Scorpio, the Xylo and the Bolero, along with the company's sedan, Logan, rose 67% to 28,988 vehicles, surpassing the high of 27,431 units witnessed in September 2009.
India's auto industry estimates demand in the January-March period to remain strong on expectations that people would buy more vehicles before the country implements newer, and more stringent, emission norms.
The federal government is adopting norms that are equivalent to the Euro-IV standards in 13 of India's biggest cities by April 1. Auto makers are required to invest in upgrading their vehicles to comply with the rules and a part of the incremental costs will likely be passed on to customers.
Sales at General Motors India more than doubled to 9,421 vehicles. The company said 10,000 units of its recently-launched Chevrolet Beat small car have been booked.
Meanwhile, Hyundai's local unit reported a 42% rise in total January sales to 52,635 vehicles. While local sales rose 41% to 29,601 vehicles, exports grew 43% to 23,034 vehicles.
Two-wheeler Sales Up Too
Hero Honda Motors, the country's biggest two-wheeler company by sales, recorded a 24% jump in its January sales to 389,802 two-wheelers.
"We have been reporting sales of more than 300,000 units for 13 consecutive months now," said Anil Dua, senior vice president of marketing and sales, an indication of the stabilizing market.
While sales at TVS Motor, a maker of two- and three-wheeled vehicles, rose 12% to 125,578 units in January. The company's motorcycle sales surged 24% to 54,698 units, while scooter sales grew 43% to 25,509.
(Source: irco.biz)
No comments:
Post a Comment