Auto sales in top gear again

Auto sales continued to be in top gear during August on the back of easy finance and new launches. The major highlight was the country's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki posting its highest monthly sales ever at over 1,00,000 units. This was the third time the company sold one-lakh plus units in a month this fiscal.

Maruti's total sales stood at 1.04 lakh units in August compared to 84,808 units in the same month last year thereby registering a growth of 23.5%. "This is the highest-ever monthly sales recorded by the company," Maruti stated. The domestic sales of the company stood at 92,674 units in August compared to 69,961 units a year back. Maruti Suzuki's A2 segment rose 26% to 65,953 units on the back of the launch of Alto K10 and five CNG variants.

Its South Korean rival Hyundai Motor India, the country's second largest passenger car manufacturer, sales increased 17% with total domestic sales at 28,601 units in August against 24,401 units in August 2009. The company's exports, however, declined over 12% to 22,035 units against 25,120 units last year.

Tata Motors (TATAMOTORS.BO : 1028.65 +11.6) sold 25,196 units in August primarily riding on high Nano sales registering a growth of over 40% as compared to 17,364 units sold in August last year. During the month, 8,103 Nanos were sold.

The traction in the bottom half of the car market is getting intense with General Motors and Ford getting more aggressive. While the former sold a 7,941 units in the month compared to 5,939 units last year, Ford witnessed an over two-fold jump in sales to 7,925 vehicles compared to August 2009.

The two hatchbacks Beat and Figo launched by the two carmakers respectively helped them create a foothold in the market. Since its launch in March this year, Figo has got a total bookings of 34,000 in 25 weeks. The company is slated to launch eight models by 2015. Skoda Auto India rose 24% during the month selling 1,511 units. Nissan sold 1,249 units during the month.

In the two-wheeler segment, the country's largest two-wheeler maker by volumes Hero Honda sold a whopping 4.24 lakh units in August growing at 2.2% over August 2009 when the company sold 4.15 lakh units. "The domestic two-wheeler industry remains buoyant and we expect growth to maintain this trajectory in the coming months," senior vice-president (marketing & sales) Hero Honda Anil Dua said.

TVS Motors two-wheeler sales rose 32% with 1,67,109 units against 1,26,842 units recorded in August 2009. Sales of Yamaha Motors jumped 30% to 30,450 units in the month compared to 23,466 units in August 2009. The two-wheeler sales of Mahindra & Mahindra stood at 15,165 units compared to 4,005 units in August 2009. M&M's Farm Equipment Sector (FES) division grew 26% in tractor sales in August to 13,435 units.