December Auto Sales Live: Maruti Suzuki Declines The Most In Four Months

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.’s sales fell for the second straight month and declined the most since August.

The country’s largest automaker sold 1.28 lakh units last month, a decline of 1.3 percent from the year-ago period, according to its exchange filing. This was the lowest sales in 2018.

August sales highlights (YoY):

• Sales in mini segment vehicles fell 14 percent to 27,661 units.
• Sales in compact segment fell 3.8 percent to 51,334 units.
• Sales of its new Ciaz model stood at 4,734 units.
• Sales in utility vehicles segment rose 4.9 percent to 20,225 units.
• Sales in vans segment rose 38.8 percent to 15,850 units.
• Overall domestic sales rose 1.8 percent to 1.21 lakh units.
• Overall exports fell 36.4 percent to 6,859 units.

Auto sales are likely to remain muted in December due to a slowdown that began during the festive season even as analysts continue to remain optimistic about a recovery in the new year, according to BloombergQuint’s poll of three brokerages.

A flat growth in the passenger vehicle segment and a sharp double-digit decline could be seen for the medium and heavy trucks, according to the poll. (Here’s why)

Bajaj Auto is likely to be the leaders in two-wheeler segment, Ankit Merchant, auto analyst at SMC Institutional Equities told BloombergQuint in an interaction. “We expect Bajaj Auto to report a growth of 13 percent. We expect Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor to report a growth of about 5 percent and 7-8 percent respectively.”

Commenting on the commercial vehicle sector, Merchant said that he expects Ashok Leyland’s sales to decline by around 20 percent.