Auto cos post moderate sales growth in March

Automobile majors Hyundai Motor India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Ford India today reported moderate growth in their domestic passenger vehicle sales in March.

Two-wheeler makers, led by market leader Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, posted robust growth during the month.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) said its domestic sales were 48,009 units last month against 44,757 units in March 2017, a growth rate of 7.3 per cent.

Similarly, M&M said sales of passenger vehicles stood at 26,555 units compared with 25,523 units in March 2017, up 4 per cent.

"With three of our critical new automotive launches lined up in 2018-19, we are confident of increasing our market share in the utility vehicle space," M&M President, Automotive Sector, Rajan Wadhera said.

Ford India said its domestic sales stood at 9,016 units in March as against 8,700 units in the year-ago month, up 3.63 per cent.

Honda Cars India (HCIL), however, reported a 28.36 per cent decline in its domestic sales to 13,574 units in March. The company had sold 18,950 units in the year-ago month.

Likewise, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) reported a 9.11 per cent decline in domestic sales at 12,539 units in March as compared to 13,796 units in the same month last year.

Yesterday, market leader Maruti Suzuki India had reported domestic sales of 1,48,582 units, up 16.1 per cent from 1,27,999 units in March last year.

On the other hand, Tata Motors' passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market grew 31 per cent to 20,266 units last month.

In the two wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp reported its highest ever monthly sales, clocking 7,30,473 units in March, a 20 per cent increase over the year-ago period.

The company had sold 6,09,951 units in the corresponding month last year.

For the 2017-18 fiscal, the company clocked its highest ever sales of 75,87,130 units, up 14 per cent as compared with sale of 66,64,240 units in 2016-17.

The second largest two-wheeler maker, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), reported a 20.3 per cent increase in March sales at 4,40,499 units.

Bajaj Auto reported a 23 per cent increase in total sales at 3,34,348 units in March compared to 2,72,197 units during the same month a year ago.

Its domestic sales stood at 2,03,600 units against 1,69,279 units in the corresponding month last year, up 20 per cent.

Chennai-based TVS Motor Company reported a 27 per cent increase in total sales at 3,26,659 units in March. It had sold a total of 2,56,341 units in the same month of the previous year.

The company's total two-wheeler sales were at 3,15,765 units last month as against 2,50,979 units in March 2017, a growth of 25.8 per cent.