Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai sales decline in August

The month of August threw up mixed results for automobile firms with the top two companies Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai reporting fall in domestic sales of passenger vehicles while Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Ford saw a jump in sales.

Maruti Suzuki said its sales were down 2.8 per cent at 1,47,700 units in August compared to 1,52,000 in the same period last year.

Maruti Suzuki Alto and WagonR bucked the trend and 35,895 units were sold in August 2018 compared to 35,428 in August 2017. However, only 71,364 units of Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno and Dzire were sold in August this year compared to 74,012 in the same period last year, a decline of 3.6%.

The most drastic fall was in the sales of utility vehicles like the Ertiga, Vitara Brezza and S-Cross with figures of 17,971 compared to last year's 21,442, a fall of 16.2 per cent.

Hyundai's sales declined by 2.8 per cent in August, when it sold 45,801 vehicles compared to 47,103 in August 2017.

Tata Motors saw an upswing in sales by 28 per cent with 18,420 units sold compared to 14,340 in August last year.

Mahindra & Mahindra sold 45,373 vehicles in August 2018 compared to 39,615 in the same period in 2017.

"Consumer sentiment was muted due to heavy rains in different parts of the country and the Kerala floods," said Mayank Pareek, president, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors.

"Auto industry was subdued in August due to some external factors," said Rajan Wadhera, president, M&M Automotive Sector.

Ford India reported a modest 3.40 per cent in sales at 8,042 vehicles compared to 7,777 in August 2017.