Automobile manufacturers in India count dispatches to dealers as sales.
The overall sales volume during the month is estimated to have increased 4,4% to 350,257 units from 335,446 a year ago, Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer, sales and marketing, at car market leader Maruti Suzuki India, told media persons at the monthly sales call.
The numbers represent slower growth than in May 2023, when the sales volume went up 13.8% year-on-year.
It comes on the back of a high-paced growth seen in the past three years.
“This is in line with the expectations. We see the traction coming back after the poll results,” Banerjee said, adding that the forecast of a good monsoon and the end of uncertainty after the poll results would help sales bounce back.
India’s GDP is estimated to have grown 8.2% in 2023-24, led by a 9.9% growth in the manufacturing sector.
“The auto industry and Maruti have contributed and seem to have benefited from and contributed to the GDP,” said Rahul Bharti, executive director, corporate affairs at Maruti Suzuki India.
In May, Maruti Suzuki India’s domestic sales increased marginally to 144,002 units from 143,708 units a year ago. Dragged down by a consistent fall in the mini and compact car sales, the company’s overall passenger car sales fell to 78,838 units from 84647 units in May 2023.
The company has an order book of 225,531 units. Of this, 40,000 orders are for the new Swift launched on May 9. It has dispatched 19,000 Swifts to its dealers. A good sales performance of the model helped the firm arrest the decline in the premium hatchback segment, said Banerjee. The company expects the mini and compact car models to sell more in the coming months with the launch of the limited editions of the Alto K 10, Celerio and S-Presso.
Hyundai Motor India, the second largest carmaker in the country, saw a muted 1.13% year-on-year sales growth to 49,151 units. Of this 67% were utility vehicles. Tarun Garg, chief operating officer at the firm, attributed it to the one-week long planned bi-annual maintenance shutdown of its factories.
Garg, too, said the sluggish sales were in line with expectations. “As we had anticipated in January at SIAM’s (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’) ‘Looking Ahead’ conclave, the industry will grow in low single digits,” he told media persons.
He expects sales momentum to pick up in August, with the onset of the festive season. At the end of May, Hyundai had a total booking of 65,000 units, of which 33,000 orders were for the new Creta.
Sales at Tata Motors, the third largest automobile manufacturer, saw 2% expansion in sales to 46,697 units. Mahindra and Mahindra and Toyota India however, bucked the trend and saw a 31% and 17% jump respectively as the bookings for all their existing models and the newly launched ones remained strong. While Mahindra and Mahindra launched the 3XO, Toyota India introduced the Taisor, both compact sport utility vehicles.
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