According to recent press reports, auto sales are largely flat compared to the previous year, reinforcing the point that growth for this fiscal will be considerably lower than the 30 per cent seen in 2010-11.
In cars, Maruti Suzuki has enlosed with 97,155 units this month, which is 4.4 per cent higher than the tally of April 2010. The exports fell 23 per cent to 10,011 units from 13,024 units. Sales of the company’s car range comprising the Alto, Swift, Wagon R etc was nearly flat at 57,443 units while its mid-size jumped nearly 40 per cent to 13,899 cars from 9,994 cars.
Hyundai Motor India has opened the fiscal on a quiet note with sales of 52,058 (52,020) units of which exports fell by 13.2 per cent to 20,422 units. This was however made up by the 11 per cent growth in domestic sales, a clear signal of the Korean automaker’s change in focus.
Mr. Arvind Saxena, Director, Marketing and Sales, told the press that rising interest rates are the reasons for the reduced enquires and that this trend would continue in the upcoming months. The fall in sales is mainly due to the hike in car loan. The rises in base rates have lead to the increase in the rate of all the loans.