Automobile Sales Hit The Skid Row

Automobile sales plummeted across various segments of the industry in the first nine months of fiscal 1997-98, led by a 36 per cent decline in the heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) segment.

Only motorcycles, cars and three wheeler segments were able to register positive growth in sales during the period, figures released yesterday by the Association of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM) said.

While the motorcycles segment grew by 14.84 per cent, three-wheeler sales grew by 7 per cent and passenger cars by 5.48 per cent. Sales of automobiles major Telco declined in the HCV segment in the nine months, while blue-chip Hero Honda clocked a smart 58 per cent growth in sales, AIAM said.

 

Maruti Udyog continued to have the strangle-hold in the passenger car segment and improved its marketshare to 82.58 per cent against 81.6 per cent in 1996-97.

Bajaj Auto Ltd saw its marketshare in scooters and motorcycles being eaten away by LML and Kinetic Honda in the scooter segment and Hero Honda and TVS in the motorcycle category.

Sales in HCV segment declined by 36.71 per cent at 19,645 vehicles against 27,877 in the corresponding period of 1996-97.

Telco, which now enjoys only 69.8 per cent marketshare against 73 per cent in the previous fiscal, had a drop of 39.5 per cent in HCV sales in the nine months. Its rival Ashok Leyland, with a marketshare of 29.5 per cent, had to confront a drop in sales of 29.52 per cent.

The light commercial vehicles segment (LCV) witnessed 4.1 per cent decline in sales.

The passenger car segment grew by 5.48 per cent in the first nine months. Premier Automobile Ltd, with the strike at its Kurla factory now behind it, stepped up production and registered 83.75 per cent growth in sales.

While General Motors, makers of the luxury Opel Astra cars, saw a dip in sales by 68 per cent.

Makers of Ambassador and Contessa cars, Hindustan Motors of the Birlas, saw sales decline by 6.2 per cent during this period. The company now has a marketshare of 5.57 per cent, AIAM figures said.

Total sales of passenger cars in the nine months was 3,01,413 against 2,85,747 in the previous year.

With sales of 54,975 vehicles against 56,736 in the last fiscal, the utility vehicles segment registered a negative growth of 3.1 per cent.

During the period, the scooter segment notched up sales of 9,42,577 units against 9,65,854 last year, down 2.41 per cent.

Bajaj, its marketshare down to 49.25 per cent from 56.67 per cent, saw sales decline by 15.18 per cent. Bajajs loss was the gain of Kinetic Honda (up to 9.5 per cent from 7.9 per cent) and LML (up to 24.6 per cent from 20.76 per cent).

In the first nine months of the fiscal a total of 8,14,247 motorcycles were sold as against 7,09,019, thus registering a growth of 14.84 per cent.

Hero Honda, its sales up by 57.96 per cent, displaced Bajaj from the top by garnering a marketshare of

36.08 per cent. The company had a marketshare of 26.23 per cent in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Bajaj with a marketshare of 27.8 per cent (down from 32 per cent last year), Escorts Yamaha with 15.08 per cent (down from 23.2 per cent last year) and TVS Suzuki with 18.83 per cent (up from 16.7 per cent last year) were the other major players in the segment.

Sales of mopeds at 4,83,861 units was down 7 per cent against 5,20,578 units last fiscal, the AIAM figures indicated.

The three-wheeler segment, however, grew by 7 per cent and Bajaj continued its domination.

Pune-based Bajaj, by selling 1,45,756 vehicles out of the industrys total of 1,68,742 units, was able to attain a marketshare of 86.37 per cent. The companys share last year was 84.2 per cent.