Toyota Kirloskar Motor's MPV Innova Crysta and the Fortuner SUV are hugely popular models, but they weren't good enough to help their maker grow in June. The company sold 10,603 units last month, which is a 19 percent drop from 13,088 units in June 2018.
For the six-month period of January to June 2019 too, the company saw a fall in its domestic sales volume. A total of 68,652 units were sold during this period as compared to 75,992 units during the same period last year.
Efforts to keep a lean dealer inventory level during the current slowdown, and multiple other factors are at play for the drop in volumes, says N Raja, deputy MD, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. “The industry has been witnessing a continuous decline in domestic sales owing to several factors that have contributed to the weak consumer sentiment. The prevailing economic uncertainty, uncertainty on monsoons, high interest costs, tight liquidity and also the underlying apprehensions surrounding BS VI introduction in few months have steered the slowdown," says Raja.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor is looking forward to the to the upcoming Budget to address the need for positive growth in the economy which would result in better sentiment in the auto industry. "We look forward to measures that would boost the manufacturing industry so that there is improvement in customer demand,” says Raja.
The ongoing slowdown may have also taken away some thunder from Toyota's recent introduction of the Glanza premium hatchback, sourced from alliance partner Suzuki.