The idea of the Goods and Service Tax coming into effect alone had a huge effect on several industries and the auto sector was one among them. The standardisation of taxes indicated that the cost of cars and SUV will considerably go down post-GST launch, which has largely affected car sales in June 2017. Few dealers have also reported a reduction in footfall with customers opting to delay buying new cars in orders to get better rates once the GST prices are announced. Several automakers have already reported a considerable drop in passenger car sales, while a few were fortunate enough to see marginal growth in year-on-year (YOY) sale for June. Here's how top car manufacturers in India performed last month.
Thanks to Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza UV sales went up by 43 per cent
The country's leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki as always was pretty much safe with cumulative sales of over 1.06 lakh compared to the 98,840 units sold in June 2016, registering a total growth of 7.6 per cent. Similarly, the carmaker's domestic sales also went up by 1.2 per cent, with the company selling 93,263 units in June 2017 against the 92,133 units sold the same time last year. Having said that, passenger car sales, went down by 3.6 per cent in June, while UV sale went up up 43 per cent thanks to the Vitara Brezza. The company has already announced a 3 per cent cut in prices and the effects of this might soon reflect in the July sales.
Maruti's key competitor Hyundai Motor India saw a decline of 5.6 per cent in domestic sales as the company only sold 37,562 units in June 2017 compared to the 39,807 units sold in June 2016. Compared to May 2017 though, which registered a total sales figure of 42,007 units, the drop in sales for June is even higher at 10.58 per cent.
Ford India's export went up by 30 per cent
Ford India pretty much had a similar month with the company's cumulative sales accounting for 20,828 vehicles compared to 19,754 vehicles in the corresponding month last year, registering a growth of 5.1 per cent. Having said that, domestic sales for the month of June 2017 went down by over 30 per cent, with the company selling just 6,149 units compared to the 9,469 units sold in June 2016. Exports, on the other hand, shot up by 30 per cent as the company exported 14,679 vehicles last month compared to 10,285 units in June 2016.
Home-grown automaker Tata Motors' domestic sales for June 2017 were at 36,854 vehicles, lower by 5 per cent over 38,718 vehicles sold in June 2016. Passenger vehicle business sales dropped by 10 per cent, even though the company's commercial vehicles business grew on a month-on-month basis. The company sold a total of 40,358 vehicles (passenger and commercial) last month, 9 per cent lower than the 44,525 vehicles that were sold in June 2016. That said, Tata Tiago has received 1 lakh bookings as of June 2017. Tata Motors' domestic sales for June 2017 were at 36,854 vehicles, lower by 5 per cent over 38,718 vehicles sold in June 2016. As for exports, Tata Motors saw a drop of 40 per cent in volumes with 3504 units shipped in June 2017, as against 5807 units exported during the same period last. The company said that the drop in numbers was owing to supply constraints.
Tata Tiago has received 1 lakh bookings as of June 2017
Things weren't all that good for utility vehicle manufacturer, Mahindra and Mahindra. The company reported a decline in total sales of 8 per cent with the company selling just 35,716 units in June 2017 compared to the 39,009 units sold the same month in 2016. The domestic sale also went down by 3 per cent with sales in June 2017 accounting for 33,861 compared to the 34,989 units sold in June 2016. Exports took the biggest hit of all at 1,855 units compared to last year's 4,020 units, registering a massive fall of 54 per cent. Passenger vehicle sales went down in India by 5 per cent, but commercial vehicle sales went up by 12 per cent in year-on-year sales.
