India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Saturday reported a 3.4% decline in total sales to 1,58,189 units in August on account of ‘severe floods in Kerala and heavy rains in other parts of the country.’
The company had sold 1,63,701 units in August last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.
Domestic sales for the auto major were also down 2.8% to 1,47,700 units last month against 1,52,000 units in the year-ago month.
Compact segment hit
Sales in the compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, were down 3.6% to 71,364 units against 74,012 units in August last year, the company said.
Mid-sized sedan Ciaz sold 7,002 units compared with 6,457 units in the same month a year ago, a growth of 8.4%.
Exports in August were down 10.4% to 10,489 units as against over 11,701 units in the corresponding month last year, the company said.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd., (HMIL) the country’s second largest car manufacturer, has registered an increase of 3.4% increase in cumulative sales for August 2018 by selling 61,912 units against 59,905 units during the corresponding year-ago period, driven by the strong performance of Grand i10, New Elite i20 and New 2018 Creta.
All the new roll-outs are continuing to cross the 10,000 sales-mark consistently, said Vikas Jain, national sales head-HMIL.
Hyundai Motor also continued to register strong growth in exports with 25.8% growth. However, domestic market sales witnessed a dip of 2.8% compared with August 2017.
A senior official of HMIL said the decline in sales can be attributed to the floods in Kerala. This is the reason why other automakers also reported lower sales during the month, he added.
Tata Motors reported a 27% increase in domestic sales to 58,262 units in August compared with 45,906 units in the same month last year.
Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 14% increase in total sales to 48,324 units in August. The company had sold 42,207 units in the same month last year, M&M said.
Pre-GST effect
Sales data in the passenger vehicle segment indicates some softness, possibly emanating from adverse impact of heavy rains in many parts of India and floods in Kerala, according to Shamsher Dewan, VP-corporate ratings, ICRA.
In addition, post GST, last year, OEMs had ramped up production in Q2 FY2018 to cater to pent-up demand, Mr. Dewan added.