Car makers end tough year with improved sales numbers

Now that a new financial year is upon us, car sales numbers from the previous twelve months are coming in. The results are somewhat of a mixed bag, with some manufacturers enjoying resounding success and others registering sales figures lower than in the year gone past. It’s no secret that 2013-14 was a difficult year in general for the automotive industry, but there are certain factors that have allowed some manufacturers to bounce back towards the end, more often than not, an attractive new model. The excise duty cuts passed in the Interim Budget in February 2014 also gave the industry a bit of a boost, with prices dropped by pretty much every brand. Let’s take a look at some of the carmakers’ sales fortunes over March 2014 and the 12 months prior.

Maruti Suzuki

The country’s largest carmaker by a country mile, Maruti’s cumulative sales for 2013-14 amounted to a whopping 10,53,689 units. However, that’s only a 0.25 percent increase compared to the 2012-13 financial year. In fact, the company saw a 5.21 percent decline in sales in March this year (1,02,269 units) compared to the same month in 2013 (1,07,890 units). This is despite the launch of the immensely well received Celerio hatchback, which has racked up over 20,000 bookings, including the affordable AMT automatic variants, since its launch in February. A break-up of the sales reveals that Marutis in all other segments have seen a small decline in sales this March 2014 compared to March 2013.

Hyundai

The Korean carmaker, meanwhile, sold 3.38 percent more cars in March 2014 (35,003 units) compared to the same period last year (33,858 units). Launched in 2013, the Hyundai Grand i10 – the company’s fifth hatchback – has found a lot of takers, thanks to its blend of features, styling and frugal diesel engine. The company didn’t reveal its sales figures for the entire fiscal year, but Rakesh Srivastava, Hyundai’s senior VP sales and marketing, says the outlook for the coming year is positive. “After the reduction of excise duty and with the strong performance in the compact car segment, Hyundai has registered a growth of 3.4 percent over March 2013, which indicates a build-up of positive momentum,” he said.

Mahindra

Honda

Toyota

Tata Motors

Tata had a bit of a rocky start to this financial year, but things obviously picked up by the end of it. The company recorded a 37.66 percent drop in sales over the last 12 months, managing to sell 1,38,455 units in FY 2013-14 compared to 2,22,112 units in FY 2012-13. In March 2014, Tata Motors recorded a slight increase of 2.37 percent to 12,640 units as against 12,347 units sold last March.  

The reasons behind this aren’t clear at the moment, but the constant improvements to the Tata model range, particularly the Nano, through its Horizonext programme seem to have worked. Or perhaps it was the company’s exciting display at the 2014 Auto Expo in February that won the company back some customers.

Nissan

Overall, Nissan India only saw a 3.36 percent rise in sales from the last financial year to this one, from 36,975 units to 38,217 units. However, given the developments for the company in the latter months of the financial year, the difference in sales between March this year and last is huge. It launched the Sunny automatic in April, the Micra facelift and affordable Nissan Micra Active in July, and finally, the Terrano compact SUV in October. The company also took its sales, distribution and after-sales into its own hands, ditching former partner Hover. Finally, it launched the Datsun brand and began sales in March with the Go, which managed to shift 2,072 units on its own. Counting these as part of Nissan Motor India, the company registered a 230 percent rise in sales this March compared to last year, going from 2,125 units to 7,019 units!

Ford