Maruti Suzuki sales down 13 percent in May

June 1, 2013: Even as the government’s Central Statistics Office revealed data that indicates that growth of the Indian economy has hit a decade low of 5 percent in 2012-13, in what could be an affirmation of the really tough environment for the automobile industry, India’s largest carmaker has reported a sales decline of 13 percent in May 2013. The company sold a total of 77,821 units (May 2012: 89,748). Other than its entry level quartet of the 800, Alto, A-star and the Wagon R hatchbacks, which notched a 5.1 percent growth (31,427 units versus 29,895 units in May 2012), and the SX4 which rose 24 percent on a very small base of 405 units last May, all other Marutis have taken a beating.

The Swift-Estilo-Ritz combine is down 29.4 percent with sales of 17,147 units (May 2012: 24,290) but the shocker is the consistently well-performing and Maruti sales star, the Dzire saloon has, for the first time, seen a fall: down 2.5 percent with sales of 17,265 units (May 2012: 17,707). Clearly, the recently launched Honda Amaze is not good news for Maruti as it has eaten into sales of the Dzire.

The utility vehicle category has also taken a hit with sales down 44.3 percent to 4,307 units (May 2012: ,734). This means the high-selling Ertiga (which is clubbed with the Gypsy and Vitara in the UVs) too is seeing its fortunes down at the showrooms.

While SIAM has forecast that the recovery in vehicle sales should start sometime around Q3 of 2013-14, automakers are bracing themselves for the coming months and hoping there’s a good monsoon that will help drive sales, particularly across rural India, in the near term. What should help matters is that the meteorological bureau has forecast a normal monsoon.

Meanwhile, government-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) raised the prices of petrol and diesel as the rupees hit a 10-month low versus the dollar, which makes oil imports costlier. While the price of petrol per litre has gone up by 75 paise, that of diesel is up by 50 paise. The petrol price increase is the first in three months; it was last raised on March 1 and since then the price of the fuel has fallen by nearly 8 per litre due to fallen global crude prices and a strong rupee.