The disappointing festive season for car makers continued in November, with both Hyundai and Tata Motors posting a drop in sales, while market leader Maruti Suzuki managed only a single-digit rise. Mahindra was the lone warrior able to maintain a strong growth.
Maruti?s domestic sales went up 9.7% in November to 90,882 units. This marked a sharp contrast to the 87% growth posted in the previous month of October 2012, when sales had, in fact, grown due to an extremely low base of the October 2011 (workers? strike). In November, Dzire and Ertiga led the charge, while mini segment sales were down.
Hyundai saw sales fall 1% to 34,751 units in the month, though demand for petrol cars such as Eon were up. Tata Motors saw a sharp 35% decline in volumes to 18,031 units. Sales of the Nano were down 45% to 3,503 units. Mahindra, however, saw sales rise 38% on the back of a strong demand for its diesel-powered utility vehicle range.
Toyota Kirloskar also saw sales dipping sharply by 26% to 10,352 units?its sharpest fall in many months. Honda Cars posted an 87% growth to 3,711 units in the month, while Ford?s sales fell 28.5% to 5,944 units in the month.
