India Market Sales Analysis – March 2011

Maruti Suzuki India sold 1,21,952 units in March 2011, growing 28.2 percent over March 2010 (95,123 units) inclusive of 11,528 units of exports. In the A2 segment comprising compacts like the Estilo and the Alto, among others, sales grew 43.3 percent with 78,460 units while in the A3 segment, sales were up at 13,910 units, growing 33.1 percent in March 2011. In the C segment, the company recorded a growth of 32.6 percent, touching 14,416 units.

For the fiscal as a whole, Maruti Suzuki sold 12,71,005 vehicles, a growth of 24.8 percent over fiscal 2010-11 (10,18,365 units). The company grew 30.1 percent in the domestic market and sold 11,32,739 units. It sold 8,70,790 units in the domestic market during the last fiscal.

In 2010-11, the company’s domestic sales grew across segments. Maruti Suzuki continued to lead the A2 segment, selling 8,08,552 units and marking a growth of 27.7 percent. The Alto sold 38,065 units in March 2011, its highest ever monthly sales in the fiscal. In the A3 segment, sales were up at 1,31,272 units, reflecting a growth of 32.2 percent. In the C segment, sales increased by 58.5 percent touching 1,60,626 units. Key highlights of the fiscal gone by were the launch of five cars with CNG option (Alto, Eeco, SX4, WagonR and Estilo) and the debut of the Kizashi saloon, which is being brought in as a CBU, in the luxury segment. Also, the cumulative production of 10 million vehicles. During the year, the new WagonR was launched, followed by the Alto K10 with a K-series engine.

Meanwhile, the company plans to build two new plants of 250,000 units capacity each, at Manesar. With this investment, it will be able to produce over 17 lakh units annually, by 2012-13. The total medium term investment stands at Rs 6,000 crore, inclusive of investment in these two new plants.

During the year, the company expanded its countrywide network. The number of sales outlets at the end of the last fiscal were 933 units as against 802 in the previous fiscal. The number of service stations has gone up to 2,946 as against 2,740 in fiscal 2009-10.

HMIL and Tata post good numbers

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor India, India’s second largest carmaker, saw an increase in sales of one percent in March 2011. In terms of numbers, this translated into 55,552 units as against 55,027 units in March 2010. Domestic sales accounted for 31,822 units as against 31,501 units in March 2010. Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles business reported a total sales of 29,543 units (27,678 Tata + 1,865 Fiat) in the local market in March compared to 29,867 units (27,760 Tata + 2,107 Fiat) in March 2010. The Nano sold 8,707 units, higher by 85 percent over March last year. Sales of the Nano have helped Tata come closer Hyundai’s aggegate sales.

The Indica range sold 6,937 units, lower by 40 percent over March last year. The Indigo range recorded sales of 7,197 units, down five percent over March 2010. The Sumo/ Safari/ Aria/ Venture range accounted for sales of 4,837 units, up 24 percent over March last year. Tata Motors’ launches during the fiscal included the Indica eV2, Indica Vista Drivetech4, Indigo e-CS, ManzaElan, Venture and the Aria.

Cumulative sales of Jaguar Land Rover vehicles in India for the fiscal stood at 891 units, a 268 percent increase, compared to 242 over last year. JLR introduced the XJ Diesel and the XF Diesel in the Indian market. Honda Siel Cars India sold 3,576 units in March comprising 2,773 units of the City and 379 units of the Civic among others.

General Motors India sold 11,330 units in March, the highest so far since the company commenced its operations in India. This comprised 3,266 units of the Spark, 4,508 units of the Beat and 715 units of the Cruze.

Volkswagen India sold 8,095 vehicles in March 2011 which also marks a year for the Polo. The Vento sold 3,973 units in the month overtaking its closest rival — the City — by over a thousand units. Neeraj Garg, director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, said: “March was a busy month for us with the launch of the IPL edition Vento and the new Passat.”

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) achieved its highest ever sales with 9,726 units in March 2011, 41 percent over the corresponding period last year. The growth was largely driven by the Etios with 3,257 units sold in March. An estimated 29,796 bookings have been received for the car, which is currently available only in a petrol version. TKM also announced a price increase for the Innova, Corolla Altis and Fortuner in the range of 1-1.5 percent.

The Ford Figo, launched in March last year, continued its dream run with sales of 8,926 units. Production at Ford India’s unit near Chennai crossed 100,000 units in a single financial year. The company also kicked off exports of the Figo to South Africa. Cumulative sales for March 2011 were 10,485 vehicles compared to 9,478 in the same period last year.

ŠkodaAuto India announced a sales growth of 52 percent for quarter ended March 2011 over the same period last year. Numbers-wise, this worked out to 8,346 units against 5,510 units in quarter ending March 2010. Sales in March 2011 were 3,009 units against 1,824 units in March 2010. The company has inaugurated its second 3S facility in Goa and increased the number of dealerships to 80, spread over 52 locations across the country.

Nissan India sold 2,101 vehicles in March 2011 as against 89 in March 2010. Of the 2101 units, the Micra led with sales of 2,060. This is also the highest sales attained by the Micra in a single month ever since it started sales in July, 2010. Out of the remaining, the Teana sold 11 units in March 2011 as against 21 in March 2010 and the X-Trail registered sales of 29 units as against 68 units in March 2010. Nissan also sold one 370Z in March bringing the total number of sales of the car sold since January 2010 to ten.

Mercedes makes its mark

In the luxury segment, Mercedes-Benz India said it announced its best-ever Q1 sales performance with 2,135 units. This translates into an impressive growth of 67 percent over the corresponding period last year (January-March 2010: 1,282 units). This growth was enabled by a 150 percent year-on-year growth as a result of the C-class with 983 units (January-March 2010: 393 units), followed by the E-class with 789 units, registering a year-on-year growth of 19 percent (January-March 2010: 661 units).

In March 2011 alone, MBIL netted total sales of 833 units making it the best ever month in the company’s history. The C-class sold 356 units which worked out to a 300 percent growth over last year (March 2010: 90 units) while the E-class sold 307 units (March 2010: 255 units).

Audi India sold 1,611 cars between January-March 2011. Sales for the first quarter exceeded 50 percent of the total number of cars sold last calendar. Sales for March 2011 alone were 681 cars, up 210 percent over 220 units in March 2010.

Hero Honda shines

Hero Honda Motors ended fiscal 2010-11 with over five million in sales for the first time, which the company said underlined the robust momentum that the company has sustained throughout the year 2010-11.

In terms of units, the company sold 54,02,444 units, a growth of more than 17 percent over the corresponding period when Hero Honda sold 46,00,130 units. Having sold in excess of 500,000 units in two months earlier during the year, Hero Honda capped it off with 515,852 units in March 2011, its highest-ever monthly sales. This is a growth of more than 24 percent over the corresponding month in 2010 when the company had sold 414,638 units. PawanMunjal, managing director and CEO, Hero Honda Motors, said: “Our growth rate is reflective of our strategic and marketing prowess, which has ensured our sustained market leadership.We initiated strategic and structural changes this fiscal, which will begin to take effect soon. The company will look at exploring opportunities in newer markets, establishing a new brand identity and enhancing in-house resources,” he added.

During fiscal 2010-11, Hero Honda launched seven new models across segments, comprising a mix of new models, variants and refreshes. It launched refreshed models of the Glamour and Glamour FI as well as the new Super Splendor and Hunk. Last Diwali, the company launched the Splendor Pro, featuring the biggest-ever changes in its Splendor line-up. It also launched a special edition to coincide with the Commonwealth Games last October.

Arch rival Bajaj Auto recorded a 12 percent increase in its total two-wheeler March sales at 307,738 units as against 274,277 units in the year-earlier month. Sales of motorcycles recorded were 274,389 units as against 2,44,870 units in March 2010.

Meanwhile, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India sold 147,301 two-wheelers comprising 65,899 bikes and 81,402 scooters in March. The aggregate for the year was 1,656,727 units comprising 748,895 motorcycles ad 907,832 scooters. Total sales grew 30 percent over the last fiscal. The company will begin selling its CBR 250R on April 30. While the standard variant will cost Rs 1,51,000, the C-ABS will cost Rs 1,77,000, ex-showroom, Mumbai. India Yamaha Motor recorded a 44.3 percent growth in its domestic sales during March 2011 as against the same month last year. It registered sales of 25,784 units in March 2011 as against 17,864 units in March 2010. Overall sales recorded were 36,768 units in March 2011 as against 27,460 units in March 2010, a growth of 34 percent.

Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO and managing director of India Yamaha Motor, said: “Our models — YZF-R15, FZ series and SZ series — have been very well accepted in the market. We are buoyant about Yamaha’s future in India and are strengthening our sales and service network in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.” TVS Motor registered an overall growth of 28 percent in March 2011 with sales of 191,208 units as against 149,194 units in the same month of the previous year. Cumulative sales grew 33 percent with sales of 2,046,668 units for the period April 2010 to March 2011 against 1,536,919 units registered in the previous comparable period.

TVS’ total two-wheeler sales grew by 27 percent, recording sales of 186,781 units in March 2011 against 146,763 units registered in March 2010. The company completed a years of sales for the Wego launched in January 2010. As far as scooters go, sales grew 50 percent with 42,655 units compared to 28,504 units recorded in March 2010. Motorcycles grew 24 percent accounting for 79,642 units in March 2011 as against 64,147 units in March 2010. All in all, 2010-11 was a year that saw unprecedented sales in cars and two-wheelers. Will the momentum be maintained?

BRIAN DE SOUZA