Maruti, Hyundai post robust sales growth in December

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki and rival Hyundai Motor posted robust growth in December on the back of good sales of models like Baleno, Creta and Grand i10.
Utility vehicles major Mahindra & Mahindra managed to stay in the positive territory despite several of its models being impacted by diesel ban in Delhi/NCR.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic sales rose by 13.5 per cent during the month to 1,11,333 units as against 98,109 units in December 2014.
Sales of the company's small cars, including Alto and WagonR, rose by 7.5 per cent to 37,234 units compared with 34,625 units in the year-ago month.

Dispatches in the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire and recently launched Baleno rose by 14 per cent to 47,354 units during the last month.
Utility vehicles' sale, that includes models like Ertiga and S-Cross, rose by 58.8 per cent to 9,168 units during the last month.

The company posted record 14 lakh total sales in 2015, its highest ever in a calendar year.
"CY 2015 was a year of transformation for Maruti Suzuki. The company set up premium channel Nexa for new products like S Cross and Baleno and launched hybrid Ciaz and Ertiga... stepped up customer safety and strengthened its market share to

over 47 per cent," MSI Executive Director RS Kalsi said.
Rival Hyundai Motor India also saw its monthly domestic sales rise to 41,861 units last month compared with 32,504 units in December 2014, up 28.78 per cent.
HMIL senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said the growth in December was driven by "strong performance of Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta".
He said that in terms of calendar year domestic sales, the company achieved an all-time high of 4,76,001 units with a cumulative growth of 15.7 per cent.
Mahindra's domestic sales were up 1 per cent to 34,839 units last month as against 34,460 units in December 2014.

"In spite of a challenging external environment, we at Mahindra have closed December on a positive note," M&M Chief Executive (automotive division) Pravin Shah said.
Ford India's domestic sales were at 5,924 units last month, up 57.8 per cent from 3,754 units a year ago.
Commenting on the calender year performance, Ford India, executive director of Marketing, Sales and Service, Anurag Mehrotra said 2015 was a good year for Ford.
"We launched our new plant in Sanand, strengthened our product portfolio with the launch of Aspire and Figo, increased our exports, expanded our sales and service network including parts distributors across the country and welcomed more employees and customers to the Ford family," he said.

Renault India reported an over two-fold jump in sales at
8,031 units in January as against 3,203 sold in the same month last year.
Ford India also saw its domestic sales grow 5.98 per cent at 7,045 units last month as against 6,647 a year ago.
Tata Motors, however, had a bad month, with its passenger vehicles in the domestic market declining 18 per cent at 10,728 units as against 13,047 in year-ago period.
Likewise, Honda Cars India reported a 6.52 per cent decline in its domestic sales at 17,135 units in January. It had sold 18,331 units in the same month last year.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 8,793 units in the domestic market during the month as against 12,650 in January last year, down 30.49 per cent.
"Our monthly sales have been affected and part of it is a repercussion of the recent ban on registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity of more than 2000 cc in Delhi and NCR," Toyota Kirloskar Motor Director and Senior Vice-President, Sales & Marketing N Raja said.
The NCR region contributes to the extent of around 1,000 vehicles which comprise the Innova and the Fortuner, he added.
In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero MotoCorp reported a marginal increase in sales at 5,63,348 units in January as against 5,58,982 in the same month last year.

On the other hand, Royal Enfield reported a 65 per cent jump in total motorcycle sales at 47,710 units last month as against 28,927 in January 2015.
India Yamaha Motor also reported 49.42 per cent increase in domestic sales at 58,743 units in January compared with 39,313 in the year-ago month.