Passenger vehicles sales in May continue to decline for top carmakers due to weak retail demand. Sales at Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Honda Cars India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor India dropped up to 28 per cent year-on-year during May over the same month a year ago, as companies curtailed dispatches to dealers amid slowing sales. While Maruti Suzuki’s PV sales in the domestic market fell sharply by 25.1 per cent in May, for Honda the slip was 28 per cent over last year and Toyota it was 7 per cent over last year, the companies said on Saturday. M&M reported 1 per cent y-o-y decline in monthly sales in May. The automakers count dispatches to dealerships as sales. The companies remain cautious of stock piling at dealerships. During the month, the largest domestic automaker, Maruti Suzuki, delivered 1,21,018 units as compared to 1,61,497 units in May 2018. This decline, for the third consecutive month, came as buyers deferred purchases due to increased cost of finance and ownership. Sales of mini cars, comprising the Alto and old Wagon R, fell 57 per cent y-o-y during May 2019 over last year while compact segment including Baleno and Dzire registered a dip of 9 per cent y-o-y. The mid-sized sedan Ciaz sales contracted by 11 per cent y-o-y last month. Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Saturday reported 27.87 per cent decline in domestic sales to 11,442 units in May as against 15,864 units in the same month last year. HCIL said it also exported a total of 450 units during last month. “The market continues to be tough for the auto industry with two consecutive months of such a high de-growth. It is unprecedented in the last two decades. “After elections, we were expecting an upswing which has not yet come. Factors like liquidity that is affecting capital to auto sector along with increase in fuel prices have remained a challenge to revive consumer sentiments,” HCIL Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing Rajesh Goel said. Tata Motors Saturday reported 26 per cent decline in domestic sales to 40,155 units in May. The company had sold 54,290 units during the same month last year, Tata Motors said in a statement. “Tata Motors commercial and passenger vehicles business sales in the domestic market in May 2019 at 40,155 units witnessed a drop of 26 per cent, as against 54,290 units sold in May 2018, as market sentiments continued to be muted,” it said in a statement. In the domestic market, sales of Mahindra & Mahindra were down 1.7 per cent to 43,056 units last month compared to 43,818 units in May 2018. Exports dropped by 21.9 per cent to 2,365 units as against 3,030 units in the year-ago month. In the passenger vehicles segment — which includes UVs, cars and vans — it sold 20,608 vehicles in May this year, against 20,715 vehicles in the same month last year. “While consumer sentiment and demand continued to be subdued during the pre-election phase, our focus has been on correcting the channel inventory,” said Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, M&M Ltd. In the domestic market, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) reported sales of 12,138 units last month, down 7.4 per cent as compared to 13,113 units in May 2018. “The company exported 928 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 13,066 units..The company exported 827 units of the Etios series (in May,2018).thus clocking a total of 13,940 units,” a statement said. Toyota Kirloskar Motor Deputy Managing Director N Raja, said, "The customer demand had witnessed a continued slowdown before the election results. Customers have been cautiously spending which has led to sluggishness in the domestic auto sales . " FE & PTI
