Top carmakers Maruti Suzuki (MSIL), Hyundai Motor (HMIL) and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Wednesday reported a marginal recovery in June sales numbers. The three carmakers' sales declined around a half in June on a year-on-year basis, but fared far better than nil sales in April and over 80 per cent year-on-year slump in May.
MSIL, which sells one in every two cars sold in India, dispatched 51,274 vehicles in the domestic market last month as against 1,11,014 units dispatched in June 2019, a fall of 53.8 per cent.
Sales of its entry level cars -- Alto and S-Presso -- witnessed minimum slump of 44.2 per cent, reflecting that a large section of people are looking at personal mobilty over public transport during the ongoing pandemic. Sales of MSIL's compact cars fell 57.6 per cent to 26,696 units, while sales of utility vehicles fell 45.1 per cent to 9,764 units last month. Maruti's export count stood at 4,289 units last month.
With this, the company closed the first quarter of FY 20-21 with total domestic PV sales of 64,976 units as against 363,417 units sold in the same quarter last fiscal, a slump of 82.1 per cent. "The sales performance during June 2020 and Q1 FY 20-21 should be seen in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and restrictions required for safety," the carmaker said.
Leading utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra's domestic PV sales fell 57 per cent to 8,075 units in June 2020, compared to 18,826 vehicles in June 2019.
Veejay Nakra, Chief Executive Officer, Automotive Division, M&M, said, “The automotive industry has started to see recovery both in the passenger and small commercial vehicle segments. This has been led primarily by rising rural demand and movement of essential goods across the country. Our key brands such as Bolero, Scorpio and Pik-Ups are all seeing good traction. Managing the supply chain will be our key focus area as we ramp up production to meet this increased demand.”
Hyundai Motor reported a decline of 49.2 per cent in June at 21,320 units in the domestic market, as against 42,007 units sold in the same month last year. The company’s exports for June 2020 stood at 5,500 units.
Tarun Garg, Director of Sales, Marketing and Services, HMIL, said, “Our newly launched products like Creta, Verna, Aura and traditionally strong brands like Elite i20, Venue, Santro and Grand i10 Nios have been receiving encouraging customer response. This has helped us achieve a wholesome volume in the domestic market for the month of June 2020.”