Record high discounts fail to cheer up car-buyers in December

To spice up the Hector lineup, MG is now offering the SUV with two new dual-tone paint options.

Record-high discount levels failed to entice car buyers in December as eight of the top ten car-makers in control of 90 percent of the industry’s volumes collectively posted a fall of 4.2 percent.

The passenger-car industry posted 209,359 units in sales in December as compared to 218,588 units sold in the same month in 2018, as per data revealed by the companies.

Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker saw 2.5 percent growth in dispatches to its dealers at 122,784 units in December, helped by new models such as XL6, S-Presso and new Wagon R.

In the mid-size sedan and vans segment, Ciaz and Eeco sales were the worst hit, witnessing a drop of 62 and 52 percent respectively. The market-leader kept its plants shut for annual maintenance since December 27.

New launches such as Venue, Santro and Grand i10 Nios could not arrest the decline in wholesale volumes of Hyundai during December marking a fall of 10 percent to 37,953 units as against 42,093 units recorded in December 2018.

Tarun Garg, Director – Sales, Marketing & Service, Hyundai Motor India said, “The Year 2019 has been a challenging year for the Indian automotive industry. Yet, Hyundai Motor India launched four new products in different segments. As we gear-up for a significant year 2020, we will offer BS VI in both petrol and diesel engines across different models in our product portfolio”.

Sports utility vehicle (SUV) specialist Mahindra & Mahindra recorded 4 percent increase (15,691 units) in volumes in December as against 15,091 units sold in December 2018. The Mumbai-based company significantly hiked discount during the month to get rid of stocks.

For instance, consumer benefits on Mahindra’s flagship product XUV 500 were raised to Rs 1.67 lakh from Rs 1 lakh while the year-old Marazzo saw discounts jump to Rs 2.09 lakh from just Rs 32,000 in November.

Veejay Ram Nakra, Chief of Sales and Marketing - Automotive Division, M&M, said, “Our performance in the month of December is as per year-end sales outlook and currently we are also comfortable with our overall stock levels. As we get into the new year, we are fully equipped to roll out our BSVI products and have taken all requisite measures for a smooth transition over the next three months”.

Tata Motors recorded a fall of 10 percent in volumes to 12785 units as against 14260 units sold in the same month in December 2018. Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “Our focus in December has been to drive retail and minimise the network stock in order to facilitate a smooth transition to BSVI".

Toyota Kirloskar saw the biggest fall in volumes during December. The Bengaluru-based maker of Innova clocked sales of 6,544 units, a drop of 45 percent as compared to 11,836 units.

Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President - Sales and Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “We are consciously lowering the volumes sold to dealers to ensure a smooth transition to BS-VI by April 2020 and ensure that there is no pending BS-IV inventory at dealerships by March 30, 2020, which will be unsaleable post the transition”.

MG Motor India, of the two new auto companies to have entered India, posted 3,021 units sales of the only model Hector.

Rakesh Sidana, Director – Sales, MG Motor India, said, “We are working closely with our global and local suppliers to increase the production of the Hector in 2020 to support the booking backlog”.