The first month of the 2018-19 financial year has just ended and the Indian auto industry seems to have started the year on a positive streak. Several carmakers have already come out with their respective sales numbers for the month of April 2018, and most of them have registered double-digit growth for last month. Car manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Motors and Mahindra, in particular, have had an impressive start for the 2019 fiscal year, as opposed to Ford India which saw a considerable decline in April sales.
(Maruti Suzuki Swift led the company's domestic sales)
Maruti Suzuki India, today reported achieving a growth of 14.4 per cent in April with total sales accounting for 172,986 units. The same month last year, the company sold 151,215 vehicles in total, including domestic sales and exports. The company sales performance in the domestic market has been particularly impressive for the start of the new fiscal year. Maruti Suzuki sold a total of 163,434 passenger vehicle in the domestic market last month, against the 144,081 units sold in April 2017, registering a growth of 13.4 per cent. On the other hand, commercial vehicle sales shot up by over 275 per cent, at 1,544 units, compared to last year's 411 vehicles. Exports at the same time went up by 19.1 per cent, with 8,008 vehicles in April 2018, against the 6,723 vehicles exported during the same month last year.
(Hyundai registered domestic sales of 46,735 units)
Hyundai registers the domestic sales of 46,735 units, a 4.4 per cent growth compared to the 44,758 units sold in April 2017. Exports, on the other hand, stood at 13,009 units with 12 per cent growth, against 11,610 units exported during the same month last year. The company's cumulative sales stood at 59,744 units for the month of April 2018, against 56,368 units registering a growth of 6 per cent. The strong and growing response to the new generation Verna as also the updated i20 have helped Hyundai achieved this growth and in fact along with the Creta and Grand i10, the cars contributed to 79 per cent of the total sales.
(Mahindra registered a growth of 22 per cent in April)
Mahindra and Mahindra sold 48,097 vehicles in April 2018, compared to 39,417 vehicles during the same period last year. The company registered a growth of 22 per cent. The domestic sales stood at 45,217 vehicles during April 2018, showing a growth of 19 per cent. In the passenger vehicles segment (which includes UVs, Cars and Vans) the company sold 21,927 vehicles, a growth of 13 per cent while in the commercial vehicle segment, the company sold 18,963 vehicles, registering a 26 per cent growth. In the Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles segment, M&M sold 904 vehicles for the month of April 2018. Exports stood at 2,880 vehicles for the month, a growth of 88 per cent.
(Tata Nexon has helped increase the company's UV sales)
Tata Motors today announced registering a growth of 34 per cent in passenger vehicle sales with 17,235 units as against 12,827 units sold during the same month last year. The company attributed its growth in the domestic market to the strong momentum of its popular hatchback Tiago and the new subcompact SUV Nexon. In fact, the company says that the growing demand for the Tata Nexon has increased the company's UV sales by three folds. Tata Motor has been consistently selling an average of over 4,100 units of the Nexon SUV in India.
(Ford Freestyle was launched In India last month)
Ford India's combined domestic wholesales and exports for April 2018 stood at 15,281 vehicles compared to 25,149 during the same month last year, registering a drop off almost 40 per cent. The company's domestic wholesales also saw a marginal drop of about 2.5 per cent at 7,428 vehicles last month, against the 7,618 vehicles sold in April 2017. The company's exports, at the same time accounted for 7,853 units compared to 17,531 vehicles exported in April 2017, registering a drop of 55 per cent.
Commenting on the company's performance, Anurag Mehrotra, president and managing director, Ford India, said, "Increasing inflation trajectory which might weigh on customer's access and cost to credit, coupled with increasing crude prices could lead to passenger vehicle industry growing at low single digits - so far this year".
2017 Honda City was the top seller for the month of April 2018
Honda Cars India has announced registering monthly total sales of 9,595 vehicles in April 2018, with a decline of over 35 per cent, compared to the 14,922 units sold during the same month last year. While the company's domestic sales stood at 9,143 units in April 2018, against the 14,480 units sold in April 2017, with drop of over 36 per cent, exports, on the other hand, saw a marginal growth of 2.2 per cent with 452 units compared to the 442 exported, during the same month last year.
