Auto sales growth slows in April

Auto sales growth rate has started showing decline if April figures are any indication. Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, sold a total of 97,155 vehicles in April 2011, up 4% from 93,058 vehicles sold in April 2010. Of the total sales, 10,011 units were exported.
Maruti had last week expressed concerned over low footfalls and conversion rates. “The market is stressed since January,” the company had said in a conference call with analysts.

Industry players had earlier apprehended that sales growth will halve to 15-16% this fiscal from the over 30% achieved in the last fiscal.

Sales growth during April is also down on sequential basis (over March figures) due to the seasonality factor. Tata Motors reported 2% rise in sale of 25,436 passenger vehicles (23,387 Tata + 2,049 Fiat) in the domestic market in April 2011, compared with 24,899 numbers in April last year.

Out of the total Tata Motors offerings, Nano posted good numbers as it managed to sell 10,012 units last month, it highest sales so far this year.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s domestic sales stood at 30,349 units during April 2011, as against 25,037 units in April 2010, showing an increase of 21%.

The domestic sales for Hyundai Motor India rose 10% at 31,636 units in the month as against 28,501 units in April 2010. Its exports declined 13.2% from 23,519 units in April 2010 to 20,422 units in April 2011.

“The sales numbers have started to moderate. Sales numbers will remain high but the growth rate will not exceed beyond 15-16%. Hereon we should expect the growth rate to remain muted for the rest of the year,” said Sudhir Kukreja, research analyst from Dolat Captial.

However, another analyst from a domestic brokerage said the next couple of months will be crucial to understand where the demand is heading.

Ford India sold 7,319 vehicles in April 2011, down 2.5%, as compared to 7509 units sold during the same month last year. Honda Siel sales dropped 43% to 2,012 units during April 2011 as against 3,578 units sold during the corresponding month last year.

Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president, sales & marketing, said, “The Japan issue prompted us to reduce production at our Greater Noida plant to 50% from this month. However, production adjustments for a smooth transition began from mid-April. Further, to ensure continuity of supplies to our customers in the forthcoming months we have moderated our wholesale despatches.”

In two-wheelers, Bajaj Auto sold 322,235 motorcycles in April this year, about 16% more than the 276,095 units sold in April 2010. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India sold 136,623 units, a bit lower from the 136,862 units sold in April last year.  TVS Motor sold 167,744 units as against 147,172 units in April last year, recording a growth of 14%.