After months of declining sales, car-makers like Maruti, Honda, Ford report higher sales in July but still Tata Motors and Mahindra struggle. Maruti, Honda, and Ford have finally reported some positive numbers, while others, including Tata Motors, M&M, Toyota and General Motors continued to struggle as per the monthly sales data released by the companies. The industry-wide data will be available only in a fortnight.

 

After reporting declining sales more seven months, Maruti Suzuki managed to grow on the back of increased sales of its mini segment cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, and compact sedan Dzire.  Honda Cars rode on the success of its new entry-level sedan Amaze, while Ford posted its best ever monthly sales, courtesy its new launch EcoSport, though the company has to recall many of this models due to some technical hitches.

 

Maruti said its domestic sales grew by 5.8 percent in July to 75,145 units, from 71,024 units last July. The mini segment car sales grew 15.8 percent to 33,587 units, and the Dzire sales grew 33.6 per cent to 15,249 units.

 

Honda reported over two-and-a-half-fold increase in sales at 11,223 units. "The Amaze has clocked its highest monthly sales of 6,515 units in the month and is maintaining very good growth momentum having sold over 24,000 units sold since its launch," Honda India senior vice-president for marketing and sales Jnaneswar Sen said.

 

Ford India also had a good month with its domestic sales going up 26.15 percent to 7,867 units. Its executive director for marketing, sales and service Vinay Piparsania said, "despite the near-term difficulty in the economy, our customers have put their trust in the EcoSport and with the Figo ranking as the best premium compact car in the prestigious JD Power India vehicle dependability study 2013, we are delighted to achieve the highest-ever sales in our history this month."

 

Renault India also reported twofold spurt in sales in July at 3,763 units from 1,776 units in the same period of previous year. Other car makers, however, continued to struggle in a market which has been on a prolonged slump due to weak economic growth, rising fuel costs and low consumer sentiment.

 

Homegrown auto major Tata Motors' total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 10,824 units in July, down 58.75 per cent from 26,240 units a year-ago. Likewise, Mahindra & Mahindra's domestic sales were down 19.41 per cent at 34,490 units as against 42,799 units in the same month last year. 

 

Toyota India reported 20.98 percent decline in July sales in the domestic market at 11,515 units, compared to 14,574 units in the same month last year.  "Market continues to be sluggish and it seems that we are heading for tougher times in view of the current market outlook," its deputy managing director  Sandeep Singh said.

 

Similarly, GM India reported 10.73 percent decline in sales at 6,503 units. "The market also continues to remain subdued due to high fuel prices, high interest rates, various other structural bottlenecks and macroeconomic uncertainties," its vice-president P Balendran said. Volkswagen India said its sales in July declined 11.53 percent to 4,739 units from 5,357 units.

 

In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp reported a marginal rise in total sales at 4,87,545 units in July, as against 4,84,217 units a year ago.  Chennai-based TVS Motor said its domestic two-wheeler sales were down 10.17 percent at 1,26,531 units. Motorcycles sales, however, grew by 8.49 per cent to 57,886 units, while scooters registered sales declined 9.76 percent to 36,900 units.

 

Honda Motorcycles reported 20.11 percent growth in its total sales at 2,87,177 units. Yamaha India said its domestic sales grew 35 percent at 37,494 units.