January 2012 was a good month for Maruti Suzuki whose sales crossed the 100,000 mark after close to a year. Top-seller Alto reached a new high in a while with 32,965 units sold, the highest since the model sold 38,065 units in March 2010. And the all-new Swift continues to be on a roll with 18,756 units sold in the month. The company has gone all out to make deliveries to its customers and its sales in January are a clear indication of that. When it was launched last July, the all-new Swift garnered over 100,000 bookings but the labour strife at Maruti impacted sales in the run-up to the festival season. The Wagon R also had a super-sales record with 14,888 units sold during January. This month also marks a year for the premium Kizashi saloon which sold just nine units. This high-end car, imported as a CBU from Japan, has borne the brunt of the rising value of the yen against the rupee. A total of 515 units have been sold since February 2010.
Hyundai Motor India’s domestic sales grewby 11.85 percent to 33,900 units as against 30,306 units in January 2011. The segment-wise cumulative sales for January 2012 are: A2 segment 44,960 units (Eon, Santro, i10, i20); A3 segment 4,797 units (Accent and Verna); and Santa Fe (SUV) 144 units. The Eon sold 7,344 units but didn’t make it to the Top 10 thanks to a strong showing by the Tata Nano.
Tata Motors opens 2012 on a good note
Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles business had a great run in January, reporting a total sales and distributionofftake of 36,770 units (34,669 Tata + 2,101 Fiat) in the domestic market, up 14 percent compared to 32,386 units (30,212 Tata + 2,174 Fiat) in January last year. Sales of passenger vehicles for January comprised 34,669 units, an increase of 15 percent over 30,212 units sold in January last year. Nano sales touched 7,723 units, higher by 15 percent compared to 6,703 units in January last year. Sales of the small hatch have climbed steadily in the last few months, indicating that the updated Nano 2012 has not disappointed the buyer. The Indica and Vista combined sold 11,534 units, higher by nine percent over 10,591 units sold in January 2011. The Indigo range sold 9,272 units, 10 percent over 8,456 units in January 2011. Total Tata sales have gone ahead of Hyundai for the second time since July last year and this can be attributed to a strong showing by both the Indica and Indigo range.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) sold 17,395 units as compared to 9,187 units in January last year. This was the result of an excellent showing by the Etios which sold 4,844 units as compared to 1,651 units last January. The EtiosLiva sold 4,030 units. TKM launched a new Innova and Fortuner at the Delhi Auto Expo and recorded sales of 6,794 units and 941 units respectively. The Corolla Altis sold 785 units. Toyota is clearly bullish about the new Fortuner with its deputy MD (marketing) Sandeep Singh saying that the company hopes to see a further growth in Fortuner sales with an increase in its production.
General Motors India recorded a 17.46 percent year-on-year decline in sales to 8,241 units in January, 2012. It sold 9,984 units in January 2011. “The sales were not on the expected lines as the market continues to be sluggish,” said vice-president P Balendran. The company sold 1,202 units of the Chevrolet Spark, 4,440 Beats, 71 Aveos, 191 Optras and 553 Cruze saloons. GM India also sold 1,750 Taveras and 34 Captivas.
Mahindra & Mahindra’s sales rose 20 percent to 41,369 units in January 2012 as against 34,601 units during January 2011. The refreshed Bolero continued its winning streak with 9,338 units sold. The XUV, which now costs Rs 55,000 more, sold 2,286 units. M&M has ramped up production at Chakan to cater to an overwhelming demand for the SUV. Meanwhile, the Verito sold 1,529 units, leveraging its powerful 1.5-litre diesel variant.
Ford India sold 7,508 Figos, which is the mainstay of its India line-up. The Endeavour sold 218 units and the Fiesta, 1,411 units. Total sales were 9,137 units, down about eight percent.
Volkswagen India recorded a 3.36 percent increase in sales in India to 5,789 units as against 5,601 units in the year-earlier month. The Polo and Vento together accounted for 5,402 units sold. Both segments have become more competitive for the German carmaker with new entrants including Toyota and Nissan. The Jetta and Passat together accounted for 387 units.
Nissan Motor India reported its highest ever monthly sales with 5,168 units sold in January. This performance is 1,857 units up on January 2011, up 178 percent but on a low base. The highlight of the month was sales of the Sunny which sold 3,218 units and raced ahead of its closest competitor, the Vento, and promises to be a tough competitor in the C-segment. The Micra hatchback contributed 1,855 units to Nissan’s January tally. Nissan is now gearing up for the launch of the Evalia, a people-mover unveiled at last month’s Delhi Auto Expo. It will be the third model to be produced in Oragadam after the Micra and Sunny, from autumn this year.
Honda’s lean phase continued into January. It sold 1,784 units as sales continued to be affected by the closure of the Honda plant in Thailand. The City was the only car that had some significant sales with 1,503 units sold. The company hopes to re-start production of the Brio compact as supplies of important parts for Honda’s Indian supply stabilise.
Hero MotoCorp keeps up the sales tempo
In the two-wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp recorded its highest ever quarterly sales of 15,89,286 two-wheelers in the third quarter this fiscal, fuelled by consistent half million-plus unit sales in all the three months of the quarter — 512,238 units in October, 536,772 units in November and 540,276 units in December 2011.
Bajaj Auto, which launched its all-new Pulsar 200NS last month, sold 284,439 units in the month as against 275,622 units in January 2011.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) sold 189,353 units, comprising 76,850 motorcycles and 112,503 scooters, in January. While bike sales rose by 32 percent, those of scooters went up by 50 percent. During the month, HMSI launched the 110cc Duo that, according to the company, delivers, 15 percent more mileage.
TVS reported a 5.06 percent increase in its total vehicle sales in January 2012 at 1,73,514 units as against 1,65,152 units in the same month last year. Two-wheeler sales grew 5.8 percent to 1,71,112 units from 1,61,725 units. Scooter sales increased 1.8 percent to 41,469 units from 40,736 units, while motorcycle sales declined 3.12 percent to 65,608 units from 67,721 units. TVS’s domestic two-wheeler sales grew 7.58 percent to 1,53,014 units in January 2012 against 1,42,227 units in January 2011. The company recently rolled out a ‘feature-packed’ Star City with a variety of features to woo buyers.
India Yamaha Motor rang in the new year with domestic sales of 26,300 units in January 2012 as against 21,974 units in January 2011, up 20 percent. Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO and MD, said: “Continuing with the trend in 2011, we are very happy with the growth registered in January and plan to keep the momentum high for 2012. We attribute this growth to the success of our flagship models both in the deluxe and premium segments – the R15, FZ series and SZ series.”
And finally, Suzuki Motorcycle India reported a 22.73 percent increase in sales during January 2012 to 35,099 units (28,598 in January 2011).
BRIAN DE SOUZA