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| Edited By: Sindhu Bhattacharya |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 02:27 AM IST
Car sales soared last fiscal. But a few missed the party.
This is despite the fact that of the 2.5 million cars produced in the country during FY11, domestic market absorbed close to 2 million units, while half-a-million units were exported.
Fiat India reported a 15% degrowth at 21,112 units, whereas Hindustan Motors sold almost 9% less at 9,772 cars compared with FY10.
Honda Siel Cars’s degrowth was at just 4% (59,463 units), but it was the only manufacturer that lost market share in all the segments.
Fiat, which has a distribution joint venture with Tata Motors, reported lower production last fiscal at 21,816 units, down almost 17%. No wonder, Tata has expressed its unhappiness on Fiat sales from joint showrooms and has been hinting at restructuring the equal distribution partnership.
In case of Honda, sales have been below previous-fiscal levels due to intense competition, lack of diesel options in many cars and inadequate pricing. With the company looking at a 50% drop in production from May due to disruption in key parts’ supplies from Japan, the situation may not improve anytime soon.
One segment that reported robust growth last fiscal was luxury cars. German marque Audi has more than doubled sales to 3,982 units. BMW and Mercedes Benz reported almost 80% growth over the previous year at 7,079 and 6,670 units, respectively.
Hence, it is no surprise that super luxury brands such as Italian company Maserati and British brand Bentley have entered India or expanded their existing portfolios in the first month of the new fiscal.
The good news was extended to the two-wheeler players too as all reported good numbers throughout.
Despite the divorce with 26-year-old partner Honda Motor, Hero Honda’s domestic sales rose 17% to 5,269,381 units.
Though growth has begun to taper off since the split was announced, it anyway pales in comparison to competitor Bajaj Auto’s numbers, which rose by over 35% to 2,414,630 units. The only aberration to the two-wheeler fairy tale was a 62% decline in exports by Suzuki Motorcycle.
