Car sales in December - majority fails to post growth, Maruti reports meek progress
It is a pity for the car industry in India as in December, some cars may have excelled but majority of car makers have failed to resist their sales being pulled down by gravity. Though the month of December is among the darkest of all each year but this year, it was shocking as car sales slid even after car makers doled out some of the best offers and discounts. Where Maruti Alto 800, Renault Duster, Mahindra XUV 500, Honda Brio added the necessary numbers to make their car makers to be green or say more than in green in the sales this month, some car makers such as Hyundai, Tata, GM, Toyota have all posted lack of movements in sales compared to the same month last year. Maruti too barely saved itself and posted only 3.2 percent increase in sales in December.
To the worse, prominent car makers including Hyundai, Tata, GM and Toyota have all posted a double digit decline in their car sales. Meanwhile, the exact health of the industry can be gauged by the progress India’s largest car maker Maruti has attained. As per the latest figures, Maruti India has reported a sluggish growth of only 3.2 percent in the month of December and has termed sluggish market as well as falling exports as deterrents of growth. Most significantly, sales of
Maruti Swift Dzire climbed to 42 percent. Segment wise, the utility segment witnessed the highest growth and the credit goes to
Maruti Ertiga.
Thus December was a mixed bag for the industry as a whole and was not so inspiring for a majority of car makers including some prominent ones such as Hyundai, Tata and GM. Tata Motors suffered a loss of over 51 percent sales in December compared to 28916 unit sales in December 2011. However its two cars
Tata Manza Club Class and
Tata Safari Storme have gained response in their respective segment. Meanwhile, Hyundai India posted 9.6 percent decline in sales, GM reported 22 percent decline, and Toyota Motors reported its December sales to be down by 24 percent.
