Maruti Suzuki India reported its third consecutive monthly sales of over 100,000 units. The company sold a total of 112,724 units in March 2012, up two percent over March 2011, its highest ever monthly sales.
The domestic sales in March 2012 are also Maruti’s highest ever monthly figure, the previous highest domestic sales being 110,424 units in March 2011. The carmaker’s total fiscal sales were 10,06,316 units, down 11 percent. One can only imagine what the final tally would have been for the fiscal had the company not had to weather a labour strike that halved output midway through 2011-12.
Model-wise, the Alto continued at the top of the tally with a record 35,245 units sold in March. The Swift, which crossed the 20,000 mark in February, brought in 20,521 buyers. The Dzire, now with a sub-four-metre variant, sold 16,451 units. The company has also begun pre-launch despatches of the Ertiga MPV but revealed no numbers.
For Hyundai Motor India, it was another super month, the carmaker recording a 6.62 percent increase in March sales to 59,229 units. It sold 55,552 units in the year-ago period. In the domestic market, HMIL’s sales went up 22.94 percent to 39,122 units from 31,822 units in the same month last year. “We could meet our expectations in March as there was considerable interest to beat the expected price hike in the Budget,” admitted ArvindSaxena, director (marketing and sales). While exports have done well, the pull of the domestic market made HMIL divert some production for the local market, he added. In its A2 segment (Eon, Santro, i10 and i20), the company sold 51,336 units with the Eon accounting for 12,500 examples, while in the A3 segment (Accent and Verna) sales were at 7,679 units. The Sonata sold 92 and the Santa Fe SUV went home to 122 buyers.
Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles business sold and distributed 38,399 units (36,984 Tata + 1,415 Fiat) in local markets in March 2012, higher by 30 percent as compared to 29,520 units (27,678 Tata + 1,842 Fiat) in March last year. Sales of Tata cars alone for the month were 36,984 units, the highest ever in a month and up 34 percent over 27,678 vehicles sold in March 2011. Sales of the Nano at 10,475 units were its highest ever since the small car rolled out from Sanand, Gujarat, and higher by 20 percent over 8,707 units in March 2011. The Indica and Vista sold 11,420 units, up 65 percent over March last year. And the Indigo and Manza recorded 15 percent higher sales of 8,295 units.
Cumulative sales of Tata’s passenger cars were 313,710 units, the highest ever in a year and a five percent increase compared to 298,514 units sold last year. The Nano’s cumulative sales were 74,527 units, up six percent compared to 70,432 units last year. Cumulative sales of the Indica range at 105,706 units were up eight percent. Cumulative sales of the Indigo family were 77,733 units, down 12 percent. Cumulative sales of the Sumo/Safari/ Aria/ Venture range were 55,744 units, up 32 percent.
Toyota recorded a growth of 87 percent in March, selling 18,220 units as compared to 9,726 units in March last year. The Etios registered an 89 percent growth in the first quarter, with 14,538 units as compared to 7,694 sold last quarter. In March 2012, the Etios recorded 57 percent growth with its highest ever monthly sales of 5,104 units as compared to 3,257 units sold in March last year. The Liva also recorded its highest ever monthly sales at 4,034 units. The Innova sold 6,765 units last month as compared to 4,418 units sold in March last year, up 53 percent. The Fortuner sold 1,379 units as compared to 980 units in March 2011, up 41 percent while the Corolla Altis sold 917 units. However, going forward, the demand next month could be impacted due to the increase in excise duty, registration tax and VAT, the company has said.
Meanwhile, Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), which has resumed full scale operations at its Greater Noida plant, recorded its highest ever monthly sales. It sold 11,016 units in March 2012 as against 3,576 units in March 2011, up 208 percent. JnaneswarSen, senior VP, sales and marketing, said: “The Brio has emerged as an exemplary performer and this steady increase in the sales signifies the success of our models launched recently. In March, our focus was on production of the Brio to maximise deliveries to all our customers.” Cumulative sales for the April 2011-March 2012 period were 54,427 units as compared to 59,463 units sold in 2010-11. The model-wise sales break-up for March 2012 is: Brio 6,355; Jazz 535; City 3,920, Civic 104, Accord 101 and CR-V, 1.
General Motors India sold 10,588 units in March comprising 5,638 units of the Beat, which accounted for over 50 percent of total sales. The company also sold 1,879 units of the Spark, 722 Cruze saloons, 2,075 Taveras and 44 Captivas. It had sold 10,485 units in March 2011.
Ford India though recorded a fall in domestic sales, down 13 percent to 9,026 units from 10,485 units in March 2011. The Figo remains the mainstay of the company’s sales.
Nissan sold 5,880 units sold in March 2012, up 180 percent over the March 2011 sales figures of 2,101 units. The Sunny led the tally with 4,153 units followed by the Micra with 1,680 units. Cumulatively, Nissan India has sold 33,275 cars this year against 13,043 units in calendar year 2011, with the Sunny accounting for 14,164 units in the seven months after its September launch. The Micra sold 18,650 units in 2011-2012 against 12,315 units the previous year, with other models selling 461 units.
In the luxury segment, Audi sold 2,269 cars between January-March 2012, a growth of 41 percent over the same period last year (1611 cars). March 2012 sales were 1,002 cars, up 47 percent over the same period last year in which 681 cars were sold.
Hero MotoCorp in power sales mode
In the two-wheeler market, Hero MotoCorp, which completed its first financial year since it parted ways with Honda Motor Co, reported its highest-ever sales of 62,35,205 two-wheelers, up 15.4 percent over 2010-11 when it had sold 54,02,444 units. In March, it closed the fiscal with yet another month of 500,000-plus sales with 528,290 units sold. The company sold 515,852 units in March 2011.
PawanMunjal, managing director and CEO, said, “Having taken the bold decision to chart our own course, we not only managed to retain our leadership position, but actually improved on our earlier performance to further enhance our market share during the financial year. We not only ensured a seamless transition of our brand identity, but also captured the imagination of the entire nation with our new campaign. We have also put in place strategic alliances with key international partners in order to quickly scale up our in-house R&D capabilities.”
During the year, Hero MotoCorp forged alliances with the US-based Erik Buell Racing (EBR) and Austria-based AVL to scale up its R&D capabilities and engine technologies. Through the strategic partnership with EBR, Hero MotoCorp also made its debut in international motorcycle racing, by participating at the AMA Pro Racing National Guard Superbikes Championship in the US. On the new product front, Hero launched two completely new models in addition to few refreshes and variants during the year. The company plans to shortly launch a new bike, the 125cc bike, Ignitor.
Bajaj Auto said it sold 300,848 bikes in March as against 274,392 units in March 2011, an increase of 10 percent. Of this number, exports comprised 107,691 units, a 54 percent increase over the 69,884 units exported in March 2011. Cumulative sales for 2011-12 were 38,34,405 units, up 13 percent over year-earlier fiscal.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India rode past Bajaj for the first time in a month, selling 220,487 units comprising 82,353 bikes and 138,134 scooters, a growth of 50 percent year on year. The company has ended the year with an estimated 17 percent marketshare, the company said in a press release.
TVS Motor Co’s 2011-12 sales grew seven percent at two million units. The company’s total sales were 21,98,142 units against 2,046,541 units recorded in 2011-12. In March 2012, TVS sold 182,527 units compared to 191,081 units in March 2011. Total two-wheeler sales for March 2012 stood at 180,274 units versus 186,781 units sold in March 2011. Scooter sales totalled 39,395 units in March 2012 compared to 42,655 units in March 2011. Motorcycles sales accounted for 65,994 units in March 2012 against 79,642 units in March 2011. Domestic two- wheeler sales stood at 160,736 units in March 2012 compared to 162,719 units reported in March 2011.
Meanwhile, Suzuki Motorcycle India recorded a 28.5 percent increase in its March 2012 sales figures as compared to March 2011, selling 35,158 units in March 2012 as compared to 27.361 units in March 2011. Atul Gupta, vice-president, sales and marketing, said: “We have received a good response to all our products, including the newly launched Swish 125 scooter.”
India Yamaha Motor recorded a 15.6 percent increase in its domestic sales in March selling 29,819 units as against 25,786 units in March 2011. Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO and managing director, said: “We are pleased with the encouraging response we have been receiving for our deluxe and premium segment bikes such as the YZF-R15 Version 2.0, FZ series and SZ series.” The company continues to focus on consumer-centric marketing initiatives such as Yamaha R15 One Make Race, Yamaha Safe Riding Science (YSRS) for college students and kids and Yamaha Service Camps.
The new fiscal has just begun. Will the sales numbers grow? Stay tuned.
BRIAN DE SOUZA