Economic Times reported that car sales in June have continued the dismal trend of the past few months on the back of a negative market sentiment.
Demand is believed to be subdued due to a combination of high interest rates, rising petrol prices and uncertainties on the future of Government policy on diesel cars.
The third largest player TATA Motors posted a 22% drop in sales for the month to 17,244 units. While sales of the Nano compact were up 3% (5,605 units), the Indica range sales fell 35% to 5,332 units. The Indigo range saw an even sharper dip of 46 per cent (2,658 units), while sales of utility vehicles (Sumo/ Safari/ Aria/ Venture) were up 5% (3,649 units).
Sales numbers for market leader Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai are expected to be announced on Monday.
With petrol prices now more expensive by about INR 30 over diesel, carmakers with a large diesel car portfolio had some respite. Mahindra & Mahindra posted a 23% to 19,792 units in sales of its utility vehicles such as Bolero, Scorpio and XUV500 and the Verito.
Mr Pravin Shah CEO of Automotive Division, M&M said that “We are happy to have achieved a growth given the pressures and various uncertainties which the auto industry is currently facing. We expect the demand for utility vehicles industry to continue during the current financial year. Our opinion in the current industry scenario is to not to have any major changes in the policies including fuel prices in order to create an overall positive sentiment."
Meanwhile, Toyota Kirloskar’s sales went up 22% to 14,700 units on the strong sales of the Etios range and diesel focussed Innova and Fortuner SUV models.
Mr Sandeep Singh deputy managing director of marketing Toyota Kirloskar said that “We are relieved by the recent pull back of the fuel price, however, we don’t see the market sentiments improving considerably with the other factors at play.”
Source - Economic Times
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