Majority of car companies post good growth in sales May

Key Highlights

• Maruti Suzuki's total domestic sales in May grew by a large 15.5%
• Honda Cars India registered a growth of 13.3% in May
• Ford India reported 36% jump in total sales to 23,503 units in May

Car sales in the month of May was largely positive as most car manufactures posted growth in sales during the month. Several car companies also reported double-digit growth during the month.

Maruti Suzuki's total domestic sales in May grew by a large 15.5% with high growth from its passenger vehicles and passenger cars segments. It's total domestic sales grew in May 2017 grew to 1,30,676 units from 1,13,162 units during the corresponding month last year.

This was mainly due to the double digit growth of its passenger vehicle segment which posted a 15.1% growth. The company sold 1,30,248 units during the month of May this year in comparison to 1,13,162 units in the same month last year.

Maruti Suzuki's utility vehicles (UV) mainly contributed to the growth in the segment as it rose by 66.3%. The UV segment comprising of models such as the Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross and Vitara Brezza which sold 22,608 units in May 2017 from 13,596 units in the same month last year.

In the passenger cars segment the mini cars such as the Alto and WagonR continued to push the growth higher as sales rose by 18.1%. It sold 39,089 units in May 2017 in comparison to 33,105 units during the same month last year.

The compact passenger car segment comprising of cars such as Swift, Ritz, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire rose by 10.1% as it sold 51,234 units in May this year from 46,554 units in the same month last year.

Honda Cars India registered a growth of 13.3% in May in domestic sales. It's sales grew to 11,278 units in May 2017 as against 9,954 units in corresponding month last year.

This was as the company received strong demand for the new City and WR-V. While the new Honda City sold 4,046 units during the month, Honda WR-V was the second largest sales for the company with 2,814 units sold during the month.

Ford India reported 36% jump in total sales to 23,503 units in May this year. The company had sold 17,279 units in the same month of last year, Ford India said in a statement.

Ford India's domestic sales were up 16.64% to 6,742 units last month as against 5,780 units in May last year, it said.

Even Mahindra saw a recovery in sales and reported a minor growth in sales during the month of May.

The passenger vehicles segment (which includes utility vehicles, cars and vans) registering a growth of 3% as it sold 20,290 vehicles in May 2017 as against 19,635 vehicles during May 2016. While UV sales grew by 4%, its cars and vans sales decline by 3% during May 2017.

However, Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported a slump in sales during the month. It reported 9.29% decline in total sales at 12,339 units in May.

The company had sold a total of 13,604 units in the same month last year, Toyota said in a statement. Domestic sales were down 13.48 per cent to 10,914 units as against 12,614 units in May last year, it added.

Commenting on the performance, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Director and Senior Vice-President - Sales & Marketing N Raja said ambiguity surrounding the proposed GST structure made customers postpone vehicle purchasing plans.

"We expect this impact to magnify in June 2017 until the customers have a clear understanding of the final pricing post the GST rollout," he added.

While we have yet to receive the sales figures of some other car companies such as Tata Motors, Renault, Hyundai Motors, Volkswagen and Nissan, the results of car companies up till now has been positive.

(With inputs from PTI)