Auto sector: The 2006 winners and losers

29 December 2006

The auto industry has been in top gear in 2006 producing a record breaking 10 million vehicles. But CNBC-TV18 reports that brakes have been put on the growth of the old war horse — the nippy little Maruti 800 that changed the look of Indian cars.

It has been a cracker of a year for the auto sector - the industry has churned out almost 11 million vehicles, the highest ever in India. In the domestic market, passenger cars have registered a growth of 20 per cent while utility vehicles have clocked a 12 per cent growth and multi purpose vehicles have seen a growth of 16 per cent.

But here is the surprise — the only mini car in the market Maruti 800 has registered a negative growth of 7.24 per cent.

Even premium cars like the Honda Accord, Mercedes E class, Hyundai Sonata have registered negative growth. The only cars in this segment that have seen positive growth are Skoda's Superb and Toyota's Camry. The compact, midsize and executive segments have outperformed.

In the compact segment, cars like the Alto, Swift, Santro, Indica and Fiat Palio have seen a growth of over 25 per cent. In the midsize segment, Ford's Fiesta and GM's Aveo have seen strong sales while Hyundai's Accent, Fiat's Petra and Tata Motors Indigo have shown negative growth.

In the executive segment — cars ranging between Rs9-Rs12 lakhs, the Skoda Octavia has emerged the clear winner, while competitors like Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corolla have seen negative growth.