Cars, Motorcycles sales up 2% in March 2009

Cars and motorcycle manufacturers have released their sales figures for March 2009.

Total car sales in March 2009 are up by 2%, at 1.40-1.45 lakh units, an increase of 2% compared to 2008.

This does not mean all companies fared well. While M&M and Maruti reported an increase in sales, Hyundai Motors, Honda Siel Cars India, and Tata Motors reported drops in sales.

Hyundai Motors India Limited (HMIL) witnessed a 1.8% dip in sales in the month of March 2009. While exports grew by 21.6%, domestic sales dropped by 15.8%.

HMIL’s Total sales in March 2009 stood at 46,160 units, compared to 47,001 units in March 2008.

Arvind Saxena, Sr. Vice President – Marketing and Sales, HMIL said that the industry is far from seeing a turn around at this moment.

“However, the combined sales for February and March have grown by 4.5 per cent over the same period in 2008,” he added.

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) fared no better.

Sales fell by 17.16 per cent in March 2009, at 7,368 units, compared to 8,895 units in March 2008.

The company said it sold 6,040 units of the new Honda City, 720 units of premium sedan Honda Civic, 326 units of luxury sedan Honda Accord, and 282 units of SUV Honda CR-V.

“Even in these challenging times, the sales of the new Honda City have grown by 20 per cent ever since the deliveries started in November 2009. We enter 2009-10 with a lot of confidence and are looking forward to launch of Honda Jazz as the year progresses,” HSCI Vice-President (Marketing) Jnaneswar Sen said.

On an annual basis, cumulative sales of HSCI in financial year 2008-09 dropped 16.53 per cent at 52,420 units compared to 62,802 units sold in financial year April 2007-March 2008.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), on the other hand, saw an increase in domestic sales by 11.3 per cent, in March 2009, at 25,748 units compared to 23,128 units in March 2008. The sales figure for March 2009 is the highest ever clocked by M&M for its automotive products.

The sales were driven by all the products in its portfolio, especially the utility vehicles, the Mahindra Xylo, the Mahindra Scorpio, Mahindra Bolero, and the Pik-Up, that recorded a sharp 30 per cent increase with sales of 19,973 units in March 2009 compared to 15,366 units in March 2008.

Exports for M&M were another matter. They dropped by over 70.3 per cent to 461 units in March 2009 compared with 1,554 units in March 2008.

The company has reported a decline of 68.6 per cent in sales of the Mahindra Logan at 962 units in March 2009 as opposed to 3,068 units in March 2008.

M&M’s total sales in March 2009, including domestic as well as exports, stood at 26,209 vehicles in March 2009, compared to 24,682 vehicles sold in March 2008.

Tata Motors’ reported a 4% drop in its passenger vehicle sales in March 2009  at  23,680 units compared to 24,737 units in March 2008.

Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle sales dipped to 29,006 in March 2009, registering a 19 per cent drop.

The company’s cumulative domestic sales of commercial vehicles dropped to 265,012 units, in the financial year April 2008-March 2009, from 313,360 units in financial year April 2007-March 2008, registering a decline of 15 per cent.

As for the two-wheeler segment, Hero Honda, the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the world, registered a growth of 10% selling 3,53,342 units in March 2009 compared to 3,20,594 units in March 2008.

The company sold 37.22 lakh two-wheelers in 2009 against 33.37 lakh units in 2008 up 12%, on an annual basis.

“We have achieved a market share of 57% in the domestic motorcycle market, despite the industry witnessing significant drop in sales on the back of slowing economy and prevailing high interest rates in the country,” Hero Honda MD & CEO Pawan Munjal said.

TVS Motor Company also did well clocking 4% growth in sales during March 2009. The company sold 1,21,988 units compared to 1,17,045 units in the same month, in 2008.

The company said that the growth in the sales was mainly because of scooters, which posted a 44% increase at 22,975 units in March 2009, compared to 15,942 units in the corresponding month, in 2008.

Motorcycles sales were down by 8.46% as compared to that in 2008, while the figure for exports of the two-wheelers were up by 25%.

The best figures were enjoyed by India Yamaha Motors that registered a whopping growth of 45.3 per cent in sales during March 2009 as compared to the corresponding period in 2008.

“It’s wonderful to note that sales figures of motorcycles have started growing after the recent slump. A careful analysis shows that Yamaha is growing at the fastest pace amongst all players and the company attributes this success to the delightful experience that the customers have had with Yamaha’s products,” Yukimine Tsuji, CEO and MD, India Yamaha Motor said.

The company’s continued focus on technology, quality and manufacturing excellence while introducing the global Yamaha standards in its operations, has catapulted the brand on a fast growth trajectory, he added.

Despite the recent slowdown affecting the consumer’s purchasing power, Yamaha has registered an impressive growth with FZ-16, YZF-R15 and the recently introduced Yamaha FZ-S catching the imagination of biking aficionado, he concluded.