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| • EmTech India 2009 | ||||
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The February vehicle sales numbers brought positive news on Maruti Suzuki, with new launches aiding a revival in sales and exports.
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A change in the product mix in favour of higher-end vehicles also appears visible from these numbers.
These numbers of the passenger car major superseded its January’s sales by about 10 per cent. The company has grown by 24.1 per cent in the passenger cars segment (from 63,822 to 79,190 cars) on a year-on-year basis. While domestic sales were up 5.4 per cent year-on-year, export sales were higher by 10.4 per cent.
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The sale of multi-utility vehicles has seen heightened offtake with a growth of about 90 per cent year-on-year, driven by domestic demand.
Export growth
Exports received a fillip on the launch of A-Star, helping Maruti surpass previous record in March 2004.
A-Star is exported to 150 nations across Europe, Asia, West Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australia.
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Since the launch of this model in November, the company has been able to export over 10,000 units, driven by a re-entry into the European market. The company targets an annual sale of 50,000 units in the domestic market. The A2 segment of the passenger car market (which A-Star targets and shares with Alto, Wagon-R, Zen and Swift) has grown by about 5 per cent year-on-year.
Dzire, launched in March, has helped the company double its sales in the A3 segment. Maruti’s headway in the A2 and A3 segments is crucial at a time when its sales in the entry-level segment (800) are slipping and are down by more than 25 per cent over the previous year.
Two-wheeler sales
Two-wheeler majors have also announced February sales numbers, with Hero Honda managing the highest sales growth of 24 per cent and TVS Motors managing a 13 per cent growth. Bajaj Auto saw sales decline by 16 per cent.
Hero Honda’s sales growth appears to have been helped by new launches, particularly Passion Pro Power Start, which has seen strong volumes. While exports have moderated, sales in domestic motorcycle segment have grown by over 56 per cent for the company. TVS Motors, on the other hand, saw more export-driven growth of 32 per cent y-o-y.
Bajaj downhill
Bajaj Auto continued to post dismal sales, with two- and three-wheeler sales continuing to decline year-on -year. Despite the launch of Bajaj XCD 135 DTS-Si in January, the company posted a 17 per cent fall in the two-wheeler segment.
The three-wheeler segment fell by 12 per cent due to subdued commercial vehicle demand and export sales dipped by 20 per cent for the month.
In spite of the reasonable sales picture, auto stocks closed in the red on Monday. The biggest loser in the BSE Auto basket was Bajaj Auto, which was down by about 5 per cent
