Sales Figures News

The auto industry had an underwhelming festive season in 2018 with a host of factors contributing to the disappointing numbers. However, after a slump in sales, the Indian automobile market is on the road to recovery, according to the Federation Of Dealers Association (FADA). The dealer association said that the industry was showing signs of revival post the festive season with the drop in fuel prices contributing to the de-growth. The passenger vehicle sector though dropped by 3 per cent in sales in December 2018, whereas the two-wheeler segment increased by 11 per cent year-on-year hike in volumes.

BMW Motorrad India further revealed that the BMW S 1000 RR, BMW R 1200 GS and BMW R 1200 GSA were a favourite among motorcycle enthusiasts. For 2019, BMW is likely to bring a host of its new and updated motorcycles in the country. This will include the 2019 S 1000 RR showcased at EICMA 2018, among other performance offerings.

Sedans measuring in more than 4 metres to 4.5 metres which belong to the compact sedan segment haven't been doing too well and the figures tell the tale. This includes cars like the Hyundai Verna, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and even the Toyota Yaris and Honda City.

Suzuki Motorcycle India concluded 2018 on a high registering a healthy growth in volumes for December. The Japanese bike maker sold 43,874 units in December 2018 in the domestic market, registering a growth of 33.82 per cent over the 32,786 units that were sold in December 2017. The two-wheeler maker has had a strong 2019 financial year so far with 545,683 units sold between April and December 2018, a growth of 30 per cent over the 420,736 units sold during the same period last fiscal. The company aims to cross the 7.5 lakh mark in sales by the end of the current financial year.

Erik Prince, who founded the private security company Blackwater, is launching a fund to invest in metals used in electric vehicle batteries, he told the Financial Times. The fund aims to raise up to $500 million and will invest in deposits of metals such as cobalt, copper and lithium, largely in Africa and Asia, he told the newspaper.

Carmakers in India are still recovering from the hit which car sales took from several headwinds in 2018. Automakers have been witnessing sluggish demand for the last four months which is been due to factors like rising fuel prices, onetime payment of insurance premium and a rise in interest rates. India's largest carmaker- Maruti Suzuki has recorded a marginal volume growth of 1 per cent in December 2018 selling 119,804 units of passenger vehicles against 118,560 Units in the same month last year. The growth was largely sustained by the Utility Vehicle (UV) segment as the Vitara Brezza continued to perform well. New models- the recently launched 2018 Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and 2018 Ciaz too remained in Demand. However, the mini and compact car segment which together constitutes a huge chunk of volumes witnessed muted sales which in-turn had a significant impact on volumes.

India's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero MotoCorp registered a drop of 4 per cent in sales for December 2018. The company sold 453,985 units last month, as against 472,731 units in December 2017. While sales saw a decline in the last month of 2018, the company had a positive year overall. Hero sold 80,39,472 two-wheelers between January and December 2018, surpassing expectations. In the first nine months of financial year 2019 between April and December, the manufacturer registered a sale of 60,37,901 units.

Ford Indias combined domestic wholesales and exports in December reached 24,420 vehicles compared to 29,795 vehicles in the same month last year. The company sold 5840 vehicles in December 2018 as against 5087 units in the same period last year. Exports dropped by a considerable margin as the company exported 18,580 vehicles compared to 24,708 units in December 2017.