Top 3 car cos see sales drop 4.3% in June

As a result,Maruti’s domestic sales in June fell 3.8% to 70,020 units compared with 72,812 units in the previous year. The strike also hit the production of marquee brands such as SX4 and DZire,which saw sales nosedive 60.4% to 3,199 units. Sales of the old warhorse Maruti 800 fell 12.8% to 1,823 units in the month. However,the company’s bread and butter A2 segment,comprising Alto,Wagon-R,Estilo,Swift and Ritz,continued its dominance in the market. In June the segment grew 2.3% at 52,599 units compared with 51,418 units last year.

Maruti’s exports also fell drastically by 32.7% to 10,278 units against 15,279 units sold last year. In addition,owing to the planned maintenance shutdown,the company’s Gurgaon facilities were closed for six days (June 20-25). The planned maintenance shutdown at Manesar facilities started from June 27 and continues till July 2. There was no production during this period. “A six-day maintenance shutdown was also observed in June 2010 at the company’s production facilities,” Maruti Suzuki said in a statement on Friday.

The worst performer for the month was Tata Motors. The firm’s sales fell nearly 21% to 21,993 units from 27,811 units in June 2010. Leading Tata brands witnessed lower sales over the same month previous year. Nano sales stood at 5,451 units,down 20% from June 2010. The Indica range of cars witnessed a sales drop of 9% to 8,188 units and Indigo-branded cars recorded sales of 4,882 units,down 35% compared with the same month last year. Other brands such as the Safari and Aria saw sales fall 4% to 3,472 units.

On the back of its recently launched Verna Fluidic,the country’s second largest carmaker Hyundai Motor grew 11% in June 2011 to 30,402 units against 27,366 units in June 2010. The company’s exports also grew 17.2% to 22,129 units during the month. Acknowledging that car sales in India were slowing down,Hyundai’s director (sales & marketing) Arvind Saxena said,“The market continued to be slow but Hyundai sales have grown partially due to the success of New Verna. We have received over 21,000 customer bookings for the New Verna so far and we are trying to fulfill the demand,” he said.

Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 20.5% growth in sales of utility and passenger vehicles at 16,053 units compared with 13,316 units. The recently re-badged Logan-Verito saw its sales grow 168% to 1,510 units compared with 563 units in June 2010.

Japanese carmaker Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s sales grew two-fold to 12,034 units from 6,180 units in June 2010 to become the fifth largest carmaker in the country. The increased sales was on the back of its highest selling sedan Etios,which sold 5,002 units in the month. The company’s sales in July is expected to be even higher because of the launch of its small car Liva. So far the car has clocked 1,400 bookings. Honda Siel Cars grew 48% to 3,455 units against 2,334 units last year. Volkswagen-owned Skoda’s June sales at 2,611 units against 1,639 units last year.