Car sales registered steepest monthly fall in nearly four years at 9.43% in September. However, the industry feels new launches in the next few weeks, such as the new Maruti Alto 800 and Chevrolet Sail, may boost sales.
Data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Wednesday showed that domestic car sales in September decreased by 5.36% while sales in the two-wheeler segment dipped 18.85%, the sharpest decline in three years and nine months.
The total sale of vehicles across categories registered a dip of 9.43% to 1,418,134 units last month against 1,565,757 units in September 2011. The rate of fall is the steepest since December 2008, when sales had declined by 18.25%.
With such a drastic decline in automobile sales, the auto industry body, Siam, on Wednesday revised downwards the sales growth outlook for the year to 1-3%.
"The overall economic situation of the country, low sentiments, high petrol prices and interest rates are among the factors that are hurting the overall sales of the auto industry," Siam president S Sandilya said.
During the month, domestic car sales declined to 157,536 units from 166,464 units in the same month last year.
"New model launches at attractive price points in the utility vehicle segments have also been a factor in low sales," Sandilya said.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki's sales rose by 3.43% to 68,957 units. Rival Hyundai Motor India's sales, however, decreased by 13.88% to 30,795 units. Homegrown auto major Tata Motors' car sales were down by 18.46% at 17,133 units.
Total sales of commercial vehicles in September rose marginally to 70,683 units from 70,658 units in the year-ago period, Siam said.
"Moderating agricultural growth, sustained slowdown in industrial activities and lower replacement volumes are leading to deceleration in demand of heavy commercial vehicles, mainly in the goods segment," Sandilya said.
Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle sal es declined 14.80% to 26,471 units during the month, as against 31,068 units in September last year.
According to Siam, light commercial vehicle sales grew 11.67% to 44,212 units in September 2012 from 39,590 units in September 2011.
In the two-wheeler segment, total sales in September 2012 decreased by 12.92% to 1,069,069 units from 1,227,662 in September 2011.
Motorcycle sales last month fell by 18.85% to 7,53,693 units, from 9,28,716 units in the same month previous year. The sharpest decrease earlier was 23% in December 2008.
"There is a fall in sales for motorcycles due to weak rural demand and sustained cautious urban sentiments," Sandilya said.
In the motorcycle segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp posted 30.59% fall in sales to 344,512 units in September. Rival Bajaj Auto's sales went down by 19.37% to 206,248 units.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) posted 77.44% increase in sales to 107,406 units while TVS Motor moved 49,061 units, 30.51% less than the same month of the previous year.
The scooter segment's overall sales grew 10.17% to 2,54,321 units, from 2,30,838 units.
HMSI's scooter sales grew by 15.51% to 1,24,049 units in September, while Hero MotoCorp sold 49,340 units, up 46.25%. TVS Motor's sales saw decline of 26.71% to 39,075 units.
In the three-wheeler category, sales went up marginally to 49,576 units, from 49,271 units in the same month last year.
Luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India, however, gave some respite to buyers of the premium segment cars with its announcement of starting sports utility vehicle M-Class assembling at its Chakan facility near Pune. The move will make the SUV cheaper by over R10 lakh in the country.
