Auto sales growth slows in April

After clocking strong double-digit growth numbers over the past year, automobile sales in the domestic market moderated to 13 per cent more last month. Nine of the country’s leading car manufacturers reported offtake of 187,933 vehicles in April as against the 166,221 units sold by them during the corresponding period last year.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) and Tata Motors — together accounting for 73 per cent of passenger vehicles sold in the domestic market — grew at eight per cent during the month. The growth was largely driven by smaller manufacturers such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Volkswagen, Toyota and Skoda.

MSIL had, for the time in over a year, registered single-digit growth of 8.9 per cent in domestic sales, at 87,144 units. The company reported average sales of a little over 100,000 units in the domestic market over the past three months. Exports, too, continued to be an area of concern for it, declining for the seventh consecutive month to 10,011 units. This is a dip of 23 per cent over April last year.

Abdul Majeed, leader, automotive practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “With a hike interest rates, liquidity is getting squeezed. Historically, it has been noticed automobile sales are lowest in April, on account of strong sales in March. Growth rates have thus moderated in the industry.”

HMIL sold 31,636 units last month, a rise of 11 per cent compared to 28,501 vehicles sold in April 2010. Exports, however, fell 13 per cent to 20,422 units, dragging down overall volumes. HMIL reported a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent in total sales last month, at 52,058 units.