Tough month for Indian car companies

02 August 2008

Mumbai: The Indian automobile sector is going through trying times as four-wheeler sales slow down and two-wheeler sales rising, with interest rate hikes impacting vehicle financing, rising input costs, and inflationary pressures dampening the market sentiment.
Passenger car maker and market leader Maruti Suzuki managed to notch up cumulative sales of 58,543 units in July as compared with 57,909 units in July 2007.

During the month, while the A3 segment, where Maruti Suzuki attained leadership position last year, continued to show strong growth, the A2 segment sales held ground despite the adverse macro economic situation. Compared to the sales in July 2007, Maruti's volume in the domestic A3 segment grew by 36.8 per cent over July 2007.

Segment	Models	2008	For July 2007	% Change	2008-09	Till July 2007-08	% Change	April'07 - March'08
A1	M800	4953	5970	-17.0%	21602	23964	-9.9%	69553
C	Omni, Versa	6253	7214	-13.3%	27014	27845	-3.0%	89729
A2	Alto, Wagon-R, Zen, Swift	34795	34737	0.2%	160222	145150	10.4%	499280
A3	SX4, Swift Dzire, Esteem*	6009	4394	36.8%	21949	15450	42.1%	49335
Total Passenger Cars		52010	52315	-0.6%	230787	212409	8.7%	707897
MUV	Grand Vitara *, Gypsy	901	524	71.9%	2217	1034	114.4%	3921
Domestic		52911	52839	0.1%	233004	213443	9.2%	711818
Export		5632	5070	11.1%	18123	14135	28.2%	53024
Total Sales		58543	57909	1.1%	251127	227578	10.3%	764842
*Swift DZire launched in March 2008, Esteem figures are for 2007-08.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has announced a cumulative sales growth of 28.2 per cent for the month of July, 2008.

HMIL's total sales for the month of July 2008 totalled 36,152 units, with the domestic market accounting for 15, 066 units, and exports adding 21,086 units.

The cumulative sales for July 2007 were 28,204 units, with 15,003 units of domestic sales and 13,201 units exported.

Compared to July 2007, the company's domestic sales grew by 0.4 per cent in July 2008, while as exports grew 59.7 per cent.