Passenger vehicle sales rose in the month of July 2014. Sales of commercial vehicles continued to lag despite the fact that the Indian auto industry registered a 15.61 per cent growth over the same month last year.
With the introduction of Honda Mobilio people-mover, the Indian passenger vehicle space seems to have turned active after an interval of over a year and a half. Sales of passenger vehicles in June 2014 showed some rise. This was attributed to the fear that the new government may not extend the excise sops put in place by the previous government in its interim budget in February 2014. The new government extended the sops till December 2014, but not without an amount of pre-buying. Improvement in market sentiments as the new government took charge in May 2014 also had a positive effect on passenger vehicle sales in June 2014. July 2014 brought more cheer to the market as passenger vehicle sales continued to post an increase. The Indian automobile industry produced a total of 1,998,877 vehicles including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers in July 2014, as against 1,728,974 in July 2013, registering a growth of 15.61 per cent over the same month last year.
Sales of passenger vehicles grew by 2.53 per cent in April-July 2014 over the same period last year. Within the passenger vehicles segment, passenger cars and utility vehicles grew by 2.89 per cent and 7.36 per cent respectively, while vans declined by (-)12.19 per cent in April-July 2014 over the same period last year. A total of 276,789 passenger vehicles were sold in July 2014, up 2.84 per cent as compared to 269,158 units sold in July 2013. Market leader in the passenger vehicle space, Maruti Suzuki, announced a 1.7 per cent increase in its total sales for July 2014 at 1,01,380 units as against 83,299 units in the same month last year. Domestic sales of the company rose 19.9 per cent during the month to 90,093 units as against 75,145 units in July 2013. Sales of mini segment cars, including Alto, A-Star and WagonR, declined 14.4 per cent to 28,759 units as compared to 33,587 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a statement. Sales of compact segment cars comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz rose 81.2 per cent to 25,156 units in July 2014 as against 13,882 units in the same month last year. Sales of Dzire rose 22.2 per cent during the month under review to 18,634 units as against 15,249 units in July 2013. Sale of SX4 dipped 27.6 per cent to 233 units in July as against 322 units in the same month last year. In the UV space, Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga sales rose 23.4 per cent to 5,631 units in July 2014 as against 4,562 units in the corresponding month last year. Sales of vans, Omni and Eeco, increased 54.8 per cent to 11,680 units in July 2014 this year as compared to 7,543 units in the same month of previous year. Exports during the month rose 38.4 per cent to 11,287 units as compared to 8,154 units in July 2014 last year.
General Motors reported 27.32 per cent decline in July 2014 sales at 4,726 units as against 6,503 units sold in the same month of last year. The July 2014 sales included 1,563 units of Beat, 1,222 units of Tavera and 812 units of Chevrolet Enjoy. Hyundai Motor India reported a marginal decline of 1.42 per cent in total sales to 48,010 units in July 2014 as against the sale of 48,704 units in the same month last year. In the domestic market, Hyundai sold 29,260 units last month as compared to 25,965 units in July 2013, an increase of 12.69 per cent. In July 2014, Hyundai's exports declined 17.54 per cent to 18,750 units as against 22,739 units in the same month last year. Ford India recorded an increase of 23.86 per cent in total sales at 15,282 units in July 2014, as against 12,338 units in the same month last year. Domestic sales declined 3.49 per cent to 7,592 units in July as against 7,867 units a year ago. Exports rose 71.99 per cent to 7,690 units last month as against 4,471 units in the year-ago period. Toyota Kirloskar Motor recorded a 4.30 per cent decline in total sales at 13,847 units in July 2014. The company sold 14,470 units in the corresponding month of previous year. In the domestic market, TKM sold 11,921 units in July 2014, up 3.52 per cent as compared to 11,515 units in July 2013. During the month, the company exported 1,926 units of Etios. 882 and 888 Corolla Altis and Etios Cross were sold respectively. Honda Cars India recorded 39.97 per cent increase in domestic sales at 15,709 units. The company sold 11,223 units in July 2013. 74 units of small car Brio, 4,507 units of Amaze, 3,365 units of Mobilio, 7,705 units of City, and 58 units of CR-V were sold. 858 units were exported.
The Commercial Vehicles segment registered a de-growth of (-)15.51 per cent in April-July 2014 as compared to same period last year. Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) registered negative growth at (-)8.50 per cent and Light Commercial Vehicles also dropped by (-)19.02 per cent. 57,414 commercial vehicles were sold in July 2014, down 0.70 per cent as compared to 57,010 units sold in July 2013. Tata Motors sold 26,089 commercial vehicles in July 2014, a 28 per cent decline when compared to 36,448 vehicles sold during the corresponding period last year. LCV sales were 16,364 numbers, a decline of 39 per cent over July last year. M&HCV sales were flat at 9,725 numbers in July 2014. Ashok Leyland sold 7,847 commercial vehicles in July 2014, down 10 per cent when compared to 8,746 units sold in July 2013. 5,736 Ashok Leyland M&HCVs were sold in July 2014, down 8 per cent, as compared to 6,266 units sold in July 2013. 2,111 Ashok Leyland LCVs were sold in July 2014, down 15 per cent, as compared to 2,480 units sold in July 2013.
Three-wheelers sales grew by 15.00 per cent in April-July 2014 over the same period last year. Passenger carriers and goods carriers grew by 16.24 per cent and 9.53 per cent respectively in April-July 2014 over April-July 2013. Two-wheelers sales registered growth of 13.70 per cent in April-July 2014 over April-July 2013. Within the two-wheelers segment, scooters, motorcycles and mopeds grew by 30.80 per cent, 8.94 per cent and 4.26 per cent respectively in April-July 2014 over April-July 2013. Selling 203,092 units in July 2014, TVS Motors recorded sales growth of 32 per cent, as compared to 153,676 units sold in July 2013. Honda Motorcycles & Scooters sold 381,411 units in July 2014, up 33 per cent as compared to 2,87,048 units sold in July 2013. 157,746 motorcycles were sold in July 2014, up 7 per cent as compared to 147,656 units sold in July 2013. 223,665 scooters were sold in July 2014, up 60 per cent as compared to 139,392 units sold in July 2013. Bajaj Auto sold 2,67,841 motorcycles in July 2014, up 9 per cent as compared to 2,46,828 units sold in July 2013.
In April-July 2014, overall automobile exports grew by 23.17 per cent over the same period last year. Export of all segments grew. Passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers and two wheelers grew by 3.84 per cent, 19.78 per cent, 5.27 per cent and 32.72 per cent respectively during April-July 2014 over the same period last year.