Auto cos report higher sales in Dec

In December,sales are generally low as customers stay away from new purchases to avoid losing out on re-sale when the year of manufacture comes into consideration.

Industry observes said the spurt in sales could have been triggered by the announcement by all major auto firms that they would hike prices across models from this month.

Maruti Suzuki India recorded sales of 77,475 units in the domestic market last month,down 13.4 per cent from 89,469 units in December 2010.

However,the domestic sales of its rival and the country’s second-largest car maker,Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL),increased 12.8 per cent to 29,516 units,from 26,168 units in the same month previous year.

Commenting on the performance,HMIL Director (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena said: “An increase of 12.8 per cent in sales in December gives us cause for some cheer in a year that has been below expectations. We don’t expect an upturn in the market in the near future.”

Homegrown auto major Tata Motors’ sales in last month went up by 46.79 per cent to 28,916 units from 19,699 units in the same month previous year.

Another auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra’s domestic passenger vehicle sales increased by 23.97 per cent to 19,341 units from 15,601 units in the year-ago period.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor witnessed its sales increasing by over two-fold to 15,948 units from 6,362 units in the same month previous year.

Car maker General Motors India reported an increase of 6.74 per cent in sales for December 2011 at 9,039 units as against 8,468 units in the same month of the previous year.

“We have been able to sustain the growth primarily due to the encouraging response to Chevrolet Beat. Other carlines like Spark,Cruze and Tavera have also generated substantial volumes for the company,” General Motors India Vice President P Balendran said.

Similarly,Ford India also reported 39 per cent jump in sales for December 2011 to 5,979 units from 4,301 units in the corresponding month of the 2010. Nissan Motor India saw its sales jump by 44.57 per cent to 1,596 units from 1,104 units in December 2010.

“With the launch of the Sunny diesel variant,we are on track to achieve the targeted sales performance despite the difficult market conditions in India,” Nissan Motor India Managing Director Kiminobu Tokuyama said.

Meanwhile,with continued disruption in supplies of components due to floods in Thailand,Honda Siel Cars India reported sales of only 1,072 units in December.

In the two-wheeler segment,the country’s largest player Hero MotoCorp reported sales of 5,40,276 units during the month,registering a jump of 7.8 per cent over the year-ago period. It had sold 5,01,111 units in December,2010.

“The year 2011 has been extremely positive and eventful for the company. We donned a new brand identity this year and introduced the country’s first on-road,off-road bike Impulse,our first model to be launched under the new Hero brand name,” Hero MotoCorp Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Anil Dua said.

Rival Bajaj Auto too reported 8.22 per cent increase in motorcycle sales last month at 2,63,699 units as against 2,43,675 units in the corresponding month previous year.

The sales of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India went up 36.15 per cent to 1,91,584 units from 1,40,719 units in the corresponding month in 2010.

However,Chennai-based TVS Motor Company’s two-wheeler sales fell marginally last month to 1,67,905 units from 1,68,359 units in the year-ago period.