Maruti And Mahindra Sales Decline While Others Saw Growth In December

A lot has been said about demonetisation and how it has impacted the India auto sector. We saw the outcome of it in the sales reports for the months of October and November 2016. Now, the numbers for December car sales are out and we have to say this has been quite a challenging month for car manufacturers in the country.

Maruti Suzuki India

If anything, last month wasn't the best time for market leader Maruti Suzuki India, which registered over 1 per cent decline in year-on-year sales. The Indo-Japanese car maker sold a total of 117,908 units in December 2016 compared to last year's sales of 119,149 vehicles during the same month. This includes 106,414 units in the domestic market and 11,494 units of exports.

When we reached out to the company for a statement on how demonetisation has impacted their sales, Maruti Suzuki refused to comment on the same. Although sources from the company did tell us that to them, sales were flat last month and whatever marginal decline there was is hardly worth mentioning compared to what other manufacturers are facing. In fact, our source said that many investors were happy with last months performance.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza

Also, Maruti Suzuki said that their focus for last month was on the retail market and the company is pretty happy with its performance. The dip in sales was recorded in the wholesale market, which was anticipated by the company for this fiscal. Commenting on the same, RS Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India said, "While retail demand for our products was strong, our wholesales in Dec are as per our plan decided at the start of the year."

The Mini segment which sees cars like the Wagon R and the Alto has seen a decline of 15 per cent year on year. Even the compact segment where the Dzire Tour has been the reigning champion saw a de-growth of nearly 29.2 per cent when compared to the same month in 2015. The most impact of demonetisation has been on the sales of the Omni and Eeco as the segment showed a decline in sales of almost 17.1 per cent. Overall the passenger car segment showed a dip in sales of nearly 4.4 per cent.

Nissan India

The same could not be said for Nissan India, which ended the year on a very positive note recording double-digit growth of 21 per cent in December 2016. The company sold 3711 units in the domestic market last month compared to the 3065 units sold during December 2015.

In fact, the company said that in the first three-quarters of the 2017 fiscal year, Nissan and Datsun's combined sales achieved an impressive 50 percent growth rate, which we believe was mainly because of the Datsun redi-GO.

Nissan GT-R Was Launched In December 2016

Commenting on the company's performance, Arun Malhotra, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India, said, "Nissan India achieved healthy sales in December by posting 21 percent year-on-year growth despite the challenges of the demonetisation issue. This strong performance came on the back of the continued success of Datsun redi-GO and the great customer response to the redi-GO SPORT.

Earlier in 2016, the company had announced its intention to introduce up to eight new cars from the Datsun and Nissan brands to India by 2021. The Nissan GT-R, which was launched last month, was the first of the eight new products coming to India, while the next one will be the X-Trail hybrid, which is expected to launch this month.

Mahindra and Mahindra

Meanwhile, utility vehicle (UV) market leader Mahindra and Mahindra reported over 4 per cent decline in December 2016 sales. The company sold a total of 36,363 vehicles last month compared to the 37,915 vehicles sold during December 2015. This despite the carmaker adding three new products to its lineup - the KUV100, NuvoSport and Bolero Power+. The company's domestic sales stood at 34,310 vehicles during December 2016, as opposed to 34,839 vehicles sold during December 2015. Exports, on the other hand, stood at 2,053 vehicles in December 2016.

Mahindra Bolero Power+

Commenting on the company's performance, Pravin Shah, President & Chief Executive (Automotive), M&M said, The auto industry continues to go through challenging times, grappling with the short-term effects of demonetisation as well as reduced and postponed purchase decisions. However, we believe there will be a gradual pick-up in demand starting next few months. We do hope that the implementation of GST along with some right initiatives taken by the Government in the upcoming Union Budget on 1st February, will provide a veritable boost to the auto industry and the economy in general. I believe, this, coupled with stable fuel prices and reduced inflation and interest rates, will fuel the automotive industry's growth going forward.

In the last three-quarters of the fiscal year 2017, ending December 31, 2016, the company sold 3,68,577 vehicles, against 3,53,589 vehicles for the same period last year, representing a growth of 4 per cent.

Volkswagen

At the same time, for German carmaker Volkswagen, December was a very good month as the company registered a staggering year-on-year (YOY) growth of 68 per cent. The company sold a total of 4348 vehicles last month compared to the 2577 vehicles sold in December 2015. Volkswagen credits this massive growth to its all-new subcompact sedan Ameo, which went on sale in India early this year and undercuts almost all of its rival in terms of pricing.

Volkswagen Ameo

Commenting on the company's performance, Michael Mayer, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India said, "2016 has been a great year for Volkswagen in India, with the launch of the Made-in-India, Made-for-India Ameo that attracted a new set of buyers and also won accolades for being the best Sub-Compact Sedan in the category. The year also witnessed the launch of the most awaited Polo GTI and new variants of the Polo and Vento. We look forward to 2017, as we gear up to introduce our global models in India and continue to strengthen our robust sales and service network across the country."

Renault India

Renault India on the other hand, registered a growth of 9.2 per cent with monthly sales of 11,244 units in December 2016 as against 10,292 units sold in the month of December 2015. In fact, Renault is one of the few carmaker's who has been registering consistent growth this fiscal year and a major reason for its performance has been the Renault Kwid.

Last year the company launched two new variants of the popular small car - the 1.0-litre Kwid and the Kwid AMT. The company also launched the Duster facelift this year, which has also been marginally adding to the carmaker's performance.

Renault Kwid AMT

Sumit Sawhney, Country CEO & Managing Director, Renault India Operations said, "India is a priority market for Groupe Renault and plays an important role in Renault's international growth. In a short span of time, Renault has grown its presence exponentially, becoming one of the youngest and fastest growing automotive brands and the number one European brand in India. We are on track with a 4.5 percent market share at the end of 2016 achieving a robust three-digit growth over 2015."

The carmaker even shared the total sales for calendar years 2015 and 2016. In 2016, Renault India sold 132,235 units in India as against 53,847 units in the preceding year, thereby registering a cumulative growth of 146 per cent.