Maruti sales decline in May, but Honda, GM India up

New Delhi: With automobile market continuing to reel under a slump, major car makers Maruti Suzuki India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Saturday reported decline in domestic sales in May but Honda and General Motors posted good growth riding on new models Amaze and Chevrolet Enjoy respectively.

While Hyundai Motor India and Mahindra & Mahindra posted increase in domestic sales during the month, homegrown rival Tata Motors continued its sales slump in May. Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported 13 per cent decline in domestic sales at 77,821 units as compared to 89,478 units in May last year.

[caption id=“attachment_834197” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Third Generation Honda City" car inside a new plant of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. Reuters[/caption]

While the company’s sales of mini segment cars, including the M800, A-Star, Alto and WagonR, rose by 5.1 per cent to 31,427 units, its compact cars, including the popular Swift model, saw a decline of 29.4 per cent in sales at 17,147 units during the month. Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported 35.33 per cent decline in its domestic car sales at 10,023 units in May as against 15,501 units in the same month last year.

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Commenting on sales, TKM Deputy Managing Director and COO (Marketing and Commercial) Sandeep Singh said: “The market continues to be sluggish. We have corrected the dealer’s inventory levels and have been able to bring it down to less than 30 days.” Hyundai Motor India Ltd said its domestic sales stood at 32,102 units during the month, up 0.3 per cent from 32,010 units in May 2012.

HMIL Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing Rakesh Srivastava said the market was at the near bottom level and was expected to move into positive growth in the coming months as the demand for the petrol cars was improving. Honda Cars India (HCIL) reported 9.8 per cent increase in its domestic sales for May 2013 at 11,342 units, its highest ever monthly sales on the back of its newly launched sedan Amaze, which clocked 6,036 units during the month.

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Commenting on the numbers, HCIL Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen said: “We expanded our operating universe with the new Honda Amaze which continues to receive great response from the first time buyers and consumers looking for a family car.” General Motors India also had a good month, posting 39.82 per cent increase in sales at 8,500 units in May 2013.

“We were able to register the 40 per cent growth only because of the good response to our newly launched vehicles - Chevrolet SAIL and Chevrolet Enjoy,” GM India Vice-President P Balendran said.

PTI