The Hindu Business Line : Hyundai’s Sept sale highest in 11 years

Mumbai, Oct. 1 September was a good month for carmakers with Maruti Suzuki consolidating its leadership position and Hyundai clocking its highest-ever monthly sales in India.

Maruti sold 83,306 units, 17 per cent more than in September 2008. However, sales dropped 1,500 units on a month-on-month basis.

“The festive trend remains the same but there is still scope for improvement. Last year sales were bad due to the economic meltdown. So, this time there had to be big growth,” said Mr Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki.

The A2 segment — comprising the Alto, the Wagon R, the Zen, the Swift, the A-Star and the Ritz — accounted for 52,000 units. In contrast, sales of the 800 as well as the mid-size SX4 and the D’zire fell. Exports shot up 85 per cent to 11,712 units, thanks largely to the demand for the A-Star in Europe.

Maruti’s closest rival, Hyundai, crossed the 50,000-mark in September, recording its highest-ever sales in 11 years since it set up shop.

Of the 53,804 cars it sold, the local market accounted for 27,803 units, a growth of 25 per cent. Exports maintained the tempo with a nine per cent growth, at 26,001 units.

The company’s A2 offerings — consisting of the Santro, the i10, the Getz and the i20 — contributed to sales of 49,482 units.

“Festival sales had a good momentum and we do not want to lose it,” said Mr Arvind Saxena, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, Hyundai Motor India.

“We hope that this will be the turning point for the automotive industry. If sales remain strong during Diwali, we can look at double-digit growth figures for the current year,” he added.

As for Tata Motors, passenger car sales were up 10 per cent at 18,176 units in September. The month also saw 2,524 units of the Nano despatched.

Sales of the Indica were up 15 per cent at 9,858 units while the Indigo dropped 27 per cent to 3,420 units.

Utility vehicle sales fell 29 per cent to 2,374 units. Tata’s ally, Fiat saw its sales soar to 2,567 units from just 243 units in September 2008.

Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra sold close to 22,000 units, a growth of 37 per cent from last year while the Logan sales in the Renault venture continued to fall.

The country’s largest commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors clocked 10 per cent growth in truck and bus sales in September over the same month last year by selling 31,474 units. Light commercial vehicles showed 16 per cent growth at 18,454 units and medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment grew two per cent to 13,020 units.

This is the third consecutive month that medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment is showing growth. The segment was languishing ever since the huge slump in sales last October.

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