Healthy Auto Sales in February

Auto industry witnessed healthy sales in the month of February. The domestic passenger car sales were flat, however, as consumers postponed their purchases expecting an excise duty cut on the cars in the Union Budget 2006-07.

Hyundai Motor India clocking total sales of 18,592 units (including exports) for the month of February 2006 witnessed a 17.7% growth over February 2005. Domestic sales at 8,898 units, however, saw a 6.5% slide.

HMI recorded an all time high exports with the growth of 54.7 % in February 2006 over February 2005, selling 9,694 units in the overseas market. The highest ever export was earlier achieved in October 2004 with 9,446 units.

HMl's segment-wise cumulative sales break-up in the month of February 2006 is: A2 Segment - 14,921 units, A3 Segment - 3,300 units, A4 Segment - 210 units, A5 segment - 43 units, and SUV Segment - 118 units.

Post-budget, Hyundai Motor India announced price cuts up to Rs. 26,000 on all its locally produced models following the reduction in excise and customs duties in the Union Budget.

With excise duty reduction on small cars looming large over the horizon, Maruti Udyog Limited recorded a 5.8% decline in its sales at 41,095 units (including 4,487 units of exports) in February 2006 vis-à-vis 43,603 units (including 3,777 units of exports) in February 2005.

Maruti's domestic sales volumes in A2 segment (Alto, WagonR, Zen and Swift) and A3 segment (Baleno, Esteem) grew by 2.5% and 6.3%, respectively, compared to sales in February 2005, while sales of other models of the company witnessed a significant climb-down.

Maruti Udyog too passed on the benefit of excise duty reduction to customers. The company announced price cuts upto Rs. 25,000 for its five models: Maruti 800, Omni, Zen, WagonR and India's number one selling car - Alto that benefited from excise duty reduction announced in the recent budget. The prices of Baleno were also slashed by Rs. 8,000 after custom duties were brought down in the Budget.

Honda Siel Cars India registered a growth of 24% in February 2006 with its sales logging 2,200 units as against 1,775 units during the same month last year.

Honda City's sales surged to 2,077 units in February 2006 as compared to 1,609 units in February 2005, a growth of 29.02%. The Accord sold 97 units and the CRV, 26 units during the month.

The prices of Honda City ZX, EXi and GXi variants have been reduced by Rs. 2000; City ZX VTEC by Rs. 10,000 and Honda Accord by Rs. 15,000 arising out of reduction in peak rate of customs duty from 15% to 12.5% in the Budget 2006. However, the price of Honda CRV has been increased by around Rs. 33,000 due to the introduction of 4% Countervailing Duty (CVD) on imports announced in the Budget proposals.

General Motor India reported an 8% deceleration in its sales during February 2006, clocking 1,709 units as against 1,859 units in February 2005.

Mahindra & Mahindra also saw its sales at 11,536 units (including 257 units of exports) dipping by a 6.8% in February 2006 vis-à-vis 12,376 units in February 2005.

Tata Motors achieved total sales of 45,114 vehicles (including exports) during the month, posting a growth of 22% over 36,977 vehicles sold in February last year.

 
The passenger vehicle business reported a sale of 17,972 vehicles in the domestic market in February 2006, climbing up 12.1% over February 2005. This is the highest ever sale reported by the company for the month of February. Indica registered sale of 10,548 units, reflecting a growth of 15.3% y-o-y. The Indigo family comprising Indigo and Marina registered sales of 3,653 units, up 3.8% over February 2005. The sales of Sumo and Safari aggregated 3,771 units witnessing a growth of 12.2% over February 2005.

Commercial vehicles reported its highest ever monthly sales of 22,885 units in the domestic market in February 2006. This represents an increase of 30% over 17,656 vehicles sold in February last year. M&HCV sales stood at 13,662 units, while LCV sales were 9,223 units.

Tata Motors exported 4,257 vehicles in February 2006, an increase of 29.4% over February 2005 exports of 3,290 vehicles.

The company reduced the prices on the Indica Diesel range from March 1 , 2006. The company has also decided to cut prices of Indica Petrol range, even though the Indica Petrol range falls outside the proposal for reduction in excise duty on small cars in the Union Budget.

Ashok Leyland notched up total vehicle sales of 6,038 units (including 521 units of exports), growing 11% over February 2005 figure of 5,436 units (including 762 units of exports). The company's domestic sales for the month saw a growth of 18% to touch 5,517 units (4,674 vehicles in February 2005).

Eicher Motors' sales moved up by 4.6%, clocking 2,203 units (including 133 units of exports) in February 2006 as against 2,106 units (including 84 units of exports) in February 2005.

Hero Honda continued to lead the motorcycle segment selling 2,50,695 units, as compared to 2,23,546 units during February 2005, which translates into a growth of 12.14%.

Bajaj Auto came up with an impressive motorcycle sales performance during the month. Motorcycle sales at 1,75,256 units (1,29,409 units) surged by 35%, taking Bajaj motorcycle market share to an all time high of 33% in February 2006.

The 2&3 wheeler sales of the company totalling 2,05,776 units in February 2006 vis-à-vis 1,58,129 units in February 2005, rose by 30%.

The Bajaj CT100 at 80,683 units continued to lead the economy segment, as did the Bajaj Pulsar DTS-i twins and the Bajaj Avenger DTS-i at 33,995 units in the performance segment. The Bajaj Discover twins at 58,761 units continue to experience greater demand than supply.

The upward sales trend in motorcycles continued for TVS Motor Company in February 2006 as it posted a growth of 16%, recording sale of 66,391 units in February 2006 compared to 57,009 units in February 2005. With the launch of TVS Apache, TVS expects to close this year with a growth of 18% in motorcycle sales and the highest volumes ever achieved in the history of TVS Motor Company.

Thanks to a strong performance in motorcycle sales, TVS Motor Company propelled its total two-wheeler sales to 108,923 units (96,020 units) in February 2006 to record a healthy growth of 13%.

TVS StaR City continued its steady growth helping TVS garner over 27% market share in the economy segment. The economy segment accounts for about 39% of the total motorcycle category.

TVS Apache, the new 150cc bike received overwhelming response in Chennai where the commercial launch commenced in late February. TVS Apache will be available in other key markets in phased manner and the company hopes to gain significant volumes and improve its presence in the premium segment of motorcycle market.

In scooters, different variants of TVS Scooty clocked 16,052 units (15,900 units) of sales in February 2006.

On the export front, TVS marched on shipping out 6,007 vehicles in February 2006 and posting a growth of 73% over February 2005.

Auto industry, especially the small car segment is expected to regain the sales momentum in the year ahead with reduction in excise duty from 24% to 16%.