After a monsoon of launches, September 2011 was yet another month of new car rollouts which included the Nissan Sunny saloon, the Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 and some face-lifted versions of the C-class and an upgraded Mahindra Bolero.

Maruti Suzuki India, which has been constantly in the news for its labour problems, continued to grapplewith the strife that began in June. This affected supplies of the SX4, one of the cars that takes on the Volkswagen Vento. The Alto, as usual, continued to lead the Maruti charge as it always has but the September numbers fell to 21,198 units, much below the 25,000 average, and this only reflects the fact that there is competition for this best-selling model. The WagonR and the new Swift saw sales of 13,301 and 11,329 units respectively. A total of 85,565 Marutis were sold in September 2011, including 6,749 units for export. The disruption at the Manesar plant impacted sales of cars including the Swift and A-star.

Hyundai Motor India reported a 12.4 percent increase in sales to 57,808 units in September. It sold 51,444 units in the corresponding year-ago period. In the domestic market, HMIL’s sales grew by 13.2 percent to 35,955 units from 31,756 units in same month last year. Director (marketing and sales) ArvindSaxena said: “We will launch our much-awaited compact car Eon which will boost sales and increase market share.” In the A2 segment (Santro, i10 and i20), the company sold 49,552 units, while in the A3 segment (Accent and Verna), the carmaker sold 8,051 units. Meanwhile, the Sonata Transform sold seven units and the Santa Fe SUV went home to 198 buyers.

Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles business reported a total sale and distribution offtake of 27,137 units (26,319 Tata and 818 Fiat) in September 2011, up six percent compared to 25,527 units (23,877 Tata and 1,650 Fiat) in September 2010. Sales of Tata cars were 26,319 units, up 10 percent over September 2010. Sales of the Nano were 2,936 units, lower by 47 percent over September last year. The Indica range sold 10,282 units, up 64 percent over September last year, no doubt helped by the number of diesel variants on offer. The Indigo range sold 7,793 units, lower by 11 percent over September last year.

Honda Siel Cars India sold a total of 4,738 units comprising 596 units of the Jazz, 3,700 units of the City, 117 Civics, 137 Accords, 17 CR-Vs and 171 units of the newly-launched Brio. The company is now in the volume segment with the Brio which takes on the compact segment dominated by the Maruti duo of the Alto and WagonR, and the Toyota Liva, and it will be interesting to see how the sales dynamics change as the festive season fast approaches. Ford India sales have increased by 35 percent so far this year. Earlier last month, the company broke ground for its new plant in Sanand, Gujarat. The company sold 90,612 wholesale

and export vehicles from January to September 2011, compared to 67,253 units sold during the same period last year. In September 2011, the company had combined wholesales and exports of 10,270 units.

“The festival season is coming and Ford India has a lot to celebrate,” said Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India. The company is working overtime to get more diesel variants out, given the customer swing towards diesel. However, the impact of competition is clearly being felt. The average monthly sales have fallen to about 5,000-odd as against 6,500 last year. This can be attributed to a better showing from the likes of the Volkswagen Polo as also cars such as the Maruti Ritz and Chevrolet Beat. Ford’s all-new Fiesta has got off to a decent start with 647 units sold. The older Fiesta, now rebadged the Classic, sold 1,440 units.

Nissan Motor India sold 2,176 units in September, 2011 as against 1,256 units in September, 2010. This includes the initial few days of registered sales of its newly launched Sunny midsizer. Launched on September 20, the car has sold 659 units. With its aggressive pricing, the Sunny will take on the Vento and the SX4.

The Micra compact sold 1,475 units in September 2011 compared to 1,183 units in September 2010, a growth of 25 percent.

ŠkodaAuto India announced a growth of 12.75 percent for September 2011 over the same month last year. Total sales stood at 1,654 units against 1,467 units for September 2010. Thomas Kuehl, head of sales and marketing, said: “We have recently launched the Laura RS targeted at auto enthusiasts. We have also introduced two more variants in the Fabia and given our customers a chance to upgrade with factory fitting in the Plus variants.” The company is working on its dealership network and aftersales service to enhance customer experience while reaching out to a larger section of customers across the country. The company currently has 81 showrooms across India.

Mercedes-Benz India sold 745 units in September 2011, recording a growth of 12 percent over September 2010 sales of 664. Major enablers driving this growth have been the company’s flagship E-class and the best-seller – the C-class. While the E-class sold 333 units in September 2011, the newly launched C-class sold 293 units. The S-class sold 49 units Audi India sold 555 cars, thus recording an impressive growth of 84 percent (September 2010: 302 cars). So far, the luxury carmaker’s sales numbers from January to September 2011 (YTD) stand at 4,210 cars, a growth of 93 percent over the same period last year (January-September 2010: 2,178 cars). The company has launched six models this year and is strengthening its dealership network not only in metros, but also in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Hero MotoCorp keeps the till ringing

In the two-wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp reported highest-ever monthly sales of 5,49,625 units in September 2011, registering a growth of 26.75 percent. It sold 4,33,641 units in the same month last year. For the July-September period, the company’s sales increased 20.09 percent to 15,44,315 units from 12,85,944 units in the year-ago period, the press statement said. “Sales have been regularly in excess of half-a-million two-wheelers per month since the formation of our new company, setting the pace for our continued leadership,” said Anil Dua, senior vice-president (marketing and sales). Bajaj Auto sold 371,208 units in the month, up 18 percent over 314,515 units sold in the year-earlier month. Cumulative sales of the Discover crossed the five-million mark.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) reported a 44 percent jump in its total sales to 178,462 units in September. Its total sales stood at 123,831 units in the corresponding month last year. While motorcycle sales grew 21 percent to 71,018 units as against 58,508 units in September 2010, it reported 64 percent jump in scooter sales to 107,444 units last month compared to 65,323 units in the year-ago period.

TVS Motor Company crossed sales of 200,000 units in September 2011 with total sales touching 219,369 units, a growth of 17 percent compared to 188,005 units in the corresponding month of the previous year. Cumulative sales for the April to September 2011 period grew 15 percent to 1.14 million units from 988,794 units a year ago. Two-wheeler sales grew 17 percent with sales of 215,690 units in September 2011 in comparison with 184,783 units recorded in September 2010. Scooter sales increased 30 percent with sales of 55,879 units (43,086 in September 2010), while motorcycles grew 12 percent to 90,848 units (81,381). Domestic two-wheeler sales were up 16 percent with sales of 192,027 units in September 2011 against 165,418 units reported in September 2010.

India Yamaha Motor has registered domestic sales of 32,637 units in September 2011 versus 24,133 units in the same month last year, up 35.2 percent. Exports grew 10.3 percent and stood at 10,825 units in September 2011 while 9,811 units were exported in September 2010. Total sales recorded were 43,462 units in September 2011 versus 33,944 units sold in September 2010, a growth of 28 percent.

Jun Nakata, director, sales and marketing said, “Our sales performance this month can be attributed to our deluxe and premium segment bikes such as FZ Series and the YZF-R15. The newly launched R15 Version 2.0 has also been received very well in the market and we are trying our best to meet the growing demand.”

All in all, with Diwali a fortnight away, vehicle makers will be going all out to light up their sales numbers.

BRIAN DE SOUZA