Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL) has reported 4.4 percent drop in domestic car sales for December, the first full month of demonetisation. Exports grew 47.1 percent, making for overall decline in sales by 1 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. Hyundai posted decline, while Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) sales rose 29 percent. Mahindra has also reported 8 percent fall in sales. Renault posted a robust growth.
The MSIL stock was trading flat at Rs 5,292 on Monday on the BSE while the Sensex was down 0.23 percent, at 9.25 am after a positive opening.
Maruti Suzuki
MSIL sold 1,06,414 cars in the domestic market last month, in comparison to 111,333 units sold in December 2015, while exports rose to 11,494 units from 7,816 cars in December 2015.
The overall sales stood at 1,17,908 units last month as against 1,19,149 cars sold in December 2015.
Mid-size (Ciaz) and utility vehicle (Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross and Vitara Brezza) segments remained unaffected by demonetisation, registering growth of 30.6 percent and 75.3 percent, respectively.
Other segments — mini, compact and super compact — witnessed drop ranging from 8.6 percent to 29.2 percent during the month, YoY. Models in these segments include Alto, WagonR, Swift, Dzire, Baleno and Ritz.
Hyundai Motor
The Indian arm of Korean automaker sold 40,057 units last December, 4.3 percent lower than 41,861 cars sold in December 2015.
In calendar year 2016, the company sold 6.63 lakh cars (including exports), 2.9 percent more than calendar year 2015.
"2016 has been an Year of Excellence for Hyundai in India achieving various milestones - Celebrating 20 years in India, the roll out of 7 Millionth car in November'16, crossing the 5 lakh domestic sales in CY2016 and the fastest 50,000 unit sales in the month of October," YK Koo, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motor India said, in a statement.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM)
The company's sales were up 29 percent to 14,093 units on the back of robust volume growth for Innova Crysta and the new Fortuner.
Mahindra & Mahindra
The Mumbai-based company sold 16,698 passenger vehicles last month, down 8 percent from 18,197 units sold in December 2015. On an overall basis, including tractor and heavy vehicle sales, the cumulative number stood at 36,363 units (including exports), a drop of 4 percent from 37,915 units in December 2015. Exports plunged by 33 percent to 2,053 units.
Renault India
The French carmaker's Indian arm sold 11,244 units last month in comparison to 10,292 units in December 2015, a growth of 9.2 percent. For the calendar year 2016, sales grew 146 percent to 132,235 cars as against 53,847units in 2015.
"We plan to launch at least one new product every year, over the next 5 years, beginning with some exciting product innovations starting this year. We will continue to build our network this year as well, with strategic measures to make our cars more accessible to customers across the country," Sumit Sawhney, Country CEO & Managing Director, Renault India Operations, said in a statement.
Other carmakers such as Nissan, Ford, Tata Motors and Honda are yet to report their December numbers.
The NSE Nifty was down 40 point at 8,145.
Analysts had by and large expected auto companies to post weak numbers for December 2016 in view of the impact of demonetisation. Two-wheeler makers were hit the most, according to them.
"The real impact of demonetization on auto sales volumes is expected to be felt in December-16. Post our interaction with various dealers, we expect M&M in the PV space, Hero in 2Ws and Ashok Leyland in CVs to be hit the most. MSIL is relatively well placed on account of its waiting period for Baleno and Brezza," Motilal Oswal Securities had said in a note earlier
Nomura had predicted a similar trend. "We expect December wholesales to be impacted by a sharp decline in retail sales due to demonetisation, and inventory de-stocking by OEMs to clear off 2016 model year inventory. Our channel checks indicate that rural retails are impacted more (double-digit decline) compared with the urban segment, due to the liquidity crunch."
