New Delhi: Car sales in India grew at a robust pace in July with market leader Maruti Suzuki India posting record monthly figures while others like Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ford and Renault also registered strong numbers riding on positive sentiments brought by a good monsoon.
Maruti Suzuki India said it recorded its best-ever monthly domestic sales in July at 1,25,778 units, up 13.9 per cent from 1,10,405 units in the same month last year.
Its growth was mainly on the back of sales of utility vehicles, including newly-launched compact SUV Vitara Brezza, the Ertiga and the S-Cross, which surged over two-fold to 17,382 units in July this year from 6,916 units in the corresponding month last year.
The company’s sales of mini segment cars, including Alto and WagonR, however, declined 7.2 per cent to 35,051 units as compared to 37,752 units in the year-ago month.
Sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire and Baleno increased 4.1 per cent to 50,362 units in July this year as against 48,381 units in the corresponding month last year.
Rival Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) sold 41,201 units in the domestic market last month as compared with 36,503 units in July last year, a growth of 12.87 per cent.
Commenting on the sales performance, HMIL senior vice-president (sales and marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said the company continued to sustain growth trajectory on the strength of strong pull performance of Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta.
The market has showed improved customer sentiments led by good monsoon, low inflation, reduced interest rates and dropping fuel prices, he said.
Homegrown utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported a 14 per cent increase in domestic sales at 35,305 units last month compared with 31,087 units in July 2015.
M&M chief executive (auto division) Pravin Shah said, “The advent of good monsoon so far has brought in positive sentiment for the economy and that is somewhat reflected in our performance.”
Ford India said its domestic sales rose 62.21 per cent to 7,076 units last month as against 4,362 units in the corresponding period a year ago.
Renault India also reported an over seven-fold increase in sales to 11,968 units in July as against 1,686 units in the year-ago period.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) domestic sales grew 2.76 per cent to 12,404 units in July 2016, as against 12,070 units in July 2015.
Nissan Motor India saw its domestic sales rising over two-fold at 6,418 units in July, compared to 2,841 units in the same period of previous year.
“Our sales have been gaining momentum over the past few months and the trend has been encouraging. The customers have responded positively to the new Datsun redi-GO,” Nissan Motor India managing director Arun Malhotra said.
In the two-wheeler segment, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp reported a 9.13 per cent increase in sales at 5,32,113 units in July. It had sold 4,87,580 units in July 2015.
PTI