Macro Economy

Auto sales crash in May on lockdown woes

Our Burea New Delhi | Updated on June 01, 2020 Published on June 01, 2020

Stuck The market was slow and demand was tepid, say players   -  R Senthil Kumar

After a month of zero sales in April, the automobile manufacturers reported a sharp decline in their year-on-year sales numbers in May.

Despite the tepid show, auto companies are hopeful of an upturn and more traction in sales on the back of phased lifting of lockdown in the coming days.

For instance, passenger carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) sold 13,865 units in the domestic market and 23 units to other OEM (Toyota Kirloskar Motor) during May. Including exports, it sold a total of 18,539 units during the month.

The company had sold 1,21,018 units in the domestic market in May 2019, which means there is a slump of 88 per cent y-o-y.

Hyundai Motor India reported sales of 6,883 units in the domestic market in May, down 84 per cent y-o-y, compared with 42,502 units in the corresponding month last year.

Challenging environment

“In an extremely challenging market environment, HMIL made a humble beginning towards normalcy by registering cumulative sales of 12,583 for the month of May. This performance was made possible on account of strong customer interest and demand pull generated by trendsetter brands like the all new Creta, new Verna, Venue, Elite i20 and Grand i10,” Tarun Garg, Director (Sales, Marketing & Service), HMIL, said. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) sold 1,639 units in the month, compared with 12,138 units in the corresponding month last year.

“The market has been slow and with demand being less, we have been able to wholesale only 20 per cent of what we would have clocked under a normal situation,” Naveen Soni, Senior Vice-President, Sales and Service, TKM, said.

Mahindra & Mahindra reported 81 per cent decline y-o-y at 3,867 units compared with 20,608 units in May 2019.

“Our performance during May has been muted, due to the challenges the industry is facing. We have opened 70 per cent of our dealerships and retail sales have begun. We are seeing initial traction for our small commercial vehicles and SUV brands such as the Bolero and Scorpio,” Veejay Nakra, Chief Executive Officer, Automotive Division, M&M, said.

Two-wheeler sales

In the two-wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp reported sales of 1,06,038 units during the month, a decline of 82 per cent y-o-y, compared with 6,06,216 units in May last year.

Tamil Nadu-based TVS Motor reported 83 per cent decline y-o-y in domestic sales to 41,067 units (2,36,807 units).

Similarly, Royal Enfield reported 18,429 units in May, a decline of 69 per cent, compared with 60,211 units in the corresponding month last year.

Published on June 01, 2020

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ICRA continues its ‘negative’ outlook on the domestic passenger vehicle segment