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The general fear that cars may become dearer as the government might not extend excise duty sops beyond December boosted sales of automobile companies during the month.
Most automobile companies reported high growth in December sales and some cited big jumps in exports.
Maruti Suzuki's sales grew 20.8 per cent over the same month a year ago to 109,791 backed by three-fold increase in exports. Maruti's sales in India increased 13.3 per cent to 98,109 vehicles. Exports rose to 11,682 vehicles, the company said in a statement.
Sales of mini-segment cars like the Alto, A-Star and WagonR declined by 9.6 per cent to 34,625 but demand for mid-sized cars boosted sales. Maruti sold 41,532 compact cars - Swift, Estilo, Dzire and Ritz - in December, a 23 per cent increase. Sales of its compact sedan Dzire doubled during the month. Maruti sold 3,731 Ciaz, which was launched in October.
South Korean automobile major Hyundai's sales growth was marginally higher than Maruti's at 21 per cent. Hyundai Motor India sold 59,365 vehicles in December against 49,078 in the same month a year ago. In India, it sold 32,504 vehicles, up 14.7 per cent. Its exports jumped 29.6 per cent to 26,861 vehicles from.
"Hyundai did all-time record high sales of 4.11 lakh units with all-time high projected market share of 21.8 per cent in passenger cars," said Hyundai Motor India Senior Vice-President (sales and marketing) Rakesh Srivastava.
General Motors reported a 36.56 per cent decline in sales during December to 3,619 vehicles. "Demand continues to remain suppressed on account of high interest rates and weak economic fundamentals. The withdrawal of excise duty benefits is also a big jolt for the automobile industry. We don't see any positive movements in the short term unless the government comes out with some big-ticket announcements in the upcoming budget to revive consumer sentiment," said General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran.
Mahindra & Mahindra posted an eight per cent drop in total sales at 36,328 vehicles during the month as local sales declined seven per cent. Sales of passenger vehicles, including the Scorpio, XUV 500, Xylo, Bolero and Verito, increased just five per cent to 17,311. Commercial vehicle sales declined 15 per cent and exports also dropped 32 per cent.
Sales of Toyota Kirloskar increased 7.97 per cent to 13,628 vehicles, while sales in the local market grew by 10.25 per cent. It exported 1,888 Etios cars in December. "We have registered growth in the domestic market and overall sales in December as well. This momentum can be attributed to the year ending," said Toyota Kirloskar Senior Vice-President (sales and marketing) N Raja.
"We would have expected the government to continue the excise duty concessions as this was supporting the revival of the automobile industry after a sluggish two years," he added.
Following the release of sales numbers, Maruti Suzuki closed 0.40 per cent higher at Rs 3,341.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday. Mahindra & Mahindra closed at Rs 1,236.20, up 0.14 per cent.
