Maruti Suzuki,Tata Motors,Hyundai hit sales wall,eye worst decade

Auto makers says negative sentiment among buyers to continue till economy stays in dumps.

Car sales in 2012-13 have sharply slowed down for most major players like Maruti Suzuki,Tata Motors and Hyundai,confirming fears that the industry will record its first drop in volumes in a decade. Consumer sentiment continued to be low in March as macro-economic growth remained uncertain,while fuel prices and interest rates remained high.

Though market leader Maruti Suzuki is yet to report annual numbers it will announce its sales data on Tuesday,rival Hyundai posted a drop of 1.32 per cent in its annual volumes at 3.83 lakh units. However,Hyundais export volumes have now started picking up with a 12 per cent rise in March at 22,579 units.

Rakesh Srivastava,VP (sales & marketing),Hyundai Motor India,said,Against a large base last year,there was a sharp drop in conversion of enquiries in the absence of any positive stimulus and sentiments. We foresee the pressure on volumes to continue till there is significant improvement in macro-economic factors.

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Tata Motors,which till last year had been the third-largest passenger vehicle maker in the country,was pushed to the fourth spot by Mahindra. In FY13,Tata Motors sales has seen the sharpest dip among peers with a 29 per cent drop at 2.22 lakh units,prompting it to cut production by 20-40 per cent at most passenger vehicle plants and up to 80 per cent at Sanand plant where it makes the Nano compact.

The gainers this year were primarily utility vehicle makers like Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar who rode on the rising popularity of diesel vehicles. Mahindra saw FY13 volumes rise 27 per cent to 2.79 lakh units.

We have done better and this is the first time we have crossed half a million sales mark in a fiscal. We expect the growth momentum to stay in FY14 and hope that the sentiments in the market would improve with interest rates going down and spend on infrastructure sector by the government, said Pravin Shah,chief executive,automotive division,Mahindra. He added that the current situation in the industry continues to be the cause of concern despite the interest rate going down by 50 bps since January.

Added Sandeep Singh,deputy MD & COO,marketing and commercial at Toyota Kirloskar,The increase in excise duty of SUVs and implementation of increased road tax in some of the states has helped clear the stock of pre-budget vehicles. The market continues to be slow,and is expected to remain sluggish in the coming months.

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After two bad years,Honda cars made a comeback this fiscal largely on the back of its first mass-segment model Brio and the City sedan volumes in FY13 rose 35 per cent to an all-time high of 73,483.

Renaults Duster also helped the French carmaker post sales of 52,463 units in FY13 compared to below 5,000 units in FY12. FE