Diesel keeps car sales on track in April

After bumper sales in March, the first month of the new fiscal saw lower offtake of cars because of heavy preponement of purchases in the earlier two months on duty-hike fears and increasing pressure on petrol-car sales.

Diesel was the flavour of the month as among the top players Mahindra & Mahindra logged in the maximum 33% growth in April backed by its strong diesel portfolio. Maruti Suzuki, the market leader, registered a measly 3.6% growth as its entry-level segment (Alto, A Star, WagonR) saw a decline of 26% in the month. Tata Motors sales were down 7%, barring the Indica range which was up 63%.

Maruti sold 90,255 units in the domestic market in April with Swift and DZire growing 43% and 35%, respectively.

Deepak Jain, analyst, Sharekhan Securities, said, “There is a huge pressure on petrol sales, which is seen in Maruti numbers especially in their entry-level segment. Alto sales are disappointing. Expect almost 50% month-on-month decline in sales of Alto. “ Tata Motors passenger vehicle division sold 23,658 units (22,658 Tata + 1,000 Fiat) in the domestic market in April compared with 25,436 numbers (23,387 Tata + 2,049 Fiat) a year ago. Nano were down 20% at 8,028 units.

The passenger vehicle division of M&M sold 20,558 units in April as against 15,459 units during April 2011.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor sales grew 49% in April as it sold 14,378 units, while Ford India sales increased 13% at 9,569 units.

“The Etios series, Innova and Fortuner continue to register growth in April. However, the market sentiments seem to be low with the enquiry levels gone down across the industry, “ said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director- marketing, TKM.

General Motors India sales dropped 20.34% at 8,005 units in April.

P Balendran, vice-president, GM India, said, “The sales were not on the expected lines as uncertainty in fuel prices, hike in excise duty, and hike in local taxes in some states continue to put a lot of pressure on the automobile market. “With the RBI going for CRR cut to improve market liquidity and reducing repo rates by 50 basis points, we expect the market to improve in the coming months,” he said.

For two-wheeler manufacturers the growth was flat. Yamaha India sold 26,944 units in April 2012 compared to 25,817 units last year registering a growth of 4.4%. Suzuki Motorcycle India grew 4.34% as it sold 30,635 units in April 2012.

Hero MotoCorp dispatched 5,51,557 units last month compared with 5,17,099 units in April 2011 while Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) grew 46% in April on the back of strong scooter sales.