Car sales slide in June 2012 as buyers stay away

July 3, 2012: June 2012 was a gloomy month for car manufacturers as buyers continued to stay away from showrooms and dealers struggled to make sales. A high cost of ownership and high interest rates have considerably impacted consumer sentiment, a mood which is likely to persist throughout 2012-13. And with the bulk of car buyers looking firmly at diesel thanks to the Rs 30 per litre price differential with petrol, petrol car sales can only be headed south. For the record, Maruti Suzuki India notched a sales increase of 19.3 percent but the fact of the matter is that this growth is due to the low base in June 2011, when the labour unrest had laid India’s largest carmaker low. Maruti sold 83,531 cars in June 2012 as compared to 70,020 units last June.

Hyundai Motor India which, like Maruti, is trying hard to drive sales, saw meagre growth of 0.15 percent in June 2012 (30,450 units), compared to its sales in June 2011 (30,402 units).

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Toyota Kirloskar Motor bucked the general downturn by notching growth of 23.3 percent and 22.2 percent respectively. M&M, whose entire stable of products other than the Verito is diesel-powered, sold 19,792 units in the month, notching a 23 percent growth over the 16,053 units sold in June last year. The flagship XUV500 is a big draw as is the ageing warhorse Bolero. Toyota also recorded a similar growth rate with sales of 14,700 units, thanks to strong demand for the diesel variants of the Etios and Liva, and for the butch Fortuner SUV.

Tata Motors, surprisingly, saw a sales decline of 21.59 percent in its June 2012 sales. This, despite a strong diesel car portfolio; it could be that buyers are plumping for other diesel brands. Tata sold a total of 17,244 units as against 21,994 units sold in June 2011. The Nano sold 5,605 units, three percent up compared to 5,452 units sold in June last year. Over the last three months, Nano sales have averaged about 8,000 units, so June 2012 sales could well be a reflection of the impact of higher petrol prices.

The Indica and Vista range sold 5,332 units, down 35 percent over the 8,188 units sold in June last year. The Indigo and Manza range sales of 2,658 units were lower by 46 percent over 4,882 units sold in June 2011. The Sumo/ Safari/ Aria/ Venture range sales were 3,649 units, higher by 5 percent over the 3,472 units sold in June 2011.

General Motors India and Ford India have also been hit by the sales dip. While Ford India sold 6,257 units in June 2012 compared to 6,940 units last June (down -9.84 percent), GM India sales were down by 10 percent – 7,364 units in June 2012 compared to 8,187 units in June 2011.

Volkswagen India too is feeling the heat of slowing sales, the German car major recording only .48 percent growth: 5,371 units sold in June 2012 as against 5,397 units in June 2011.

Among the luxury carmakers, Audi is on a roll, shifting 718 cars out of its showrooms last month compared to 408 cars in June 2011.

On the two-wheeler front, sales are gradually slowing down. Hero MotoCorp recorded 4.26 percent growth on the back of sales of 534,091 units in June 2012 while Bajaj Auto saw a dip of 1.37 percent with sales of 318,377 units compared to 322,827 units in June 2011. TVS Motor Co was the hardest hit with a near-five percent drop in sales. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India posted a 55 percent jump in sales, with deliveries of 226,864 units in the month.