The Indian economy is going through a rough phase as the value of Indian rupee continues to be dragged downwards. This has affected the auto world badly which continues to see lower sales. This is further aggravated by the rising fuel prices in the country. As a result, the performance report in June 2013 showed that many manufacturers have suffered from this presently unfriendly Indian market. But still they are a few great performers in the market which are helping their respective companies keep sailing. We have statistics for the month of July 2013 which shows that most of the companies relied solely on their best sellers for most of their monthly sales.
Let’s start with Renault. In the month of July 2013, the French manufacturer sold a total of 3,763 units across all its brands in the country. The star seller for the company has been its popular SUV, Renault Duster. The car sold a total of 3,089 units in the month of July. This means that Duster alone accounted for more than 80% of the company’s monthly sales. Talking about the other cars, Renault sold 371 units of Scala, 292 units of Pulse, 10 units of Renault Fluence and only 1 unit of its Koleos. Thus you can imagine where the company would stand without Duster in its lineup.
In the year 2011, Renault had its vehicle at only 10 dealerships in the country. But by the end of 2012, the company had extended its reach to 100 dealerships, all across the nation. This shows that Renault really wants to have a long stay in the Indian market.
Managing Director of Renault India, Mr. Marc Nassif said that “Renault has had a very eventful two years in India, achieving sales volumes, network reach and brand visibility comparable to players who have been present in the industry for more than a decade,” .
Executive Director of Marketing and Sales- Renault India, Mr. Sumit Sawhney said that “Duster has played a crucial part not just in Renault’s success in India, but also in spearheading the changing landscape of the Indian automotive industry.”
Talking about Ford, we can say that July has proved to be yet another fruitful month for the company. Sales achieved by the company in the month of July 2013 outdid all the sales figures the company secured in the 17 years of its stay in India. Ford India sold a total of 12,338 units across all its brands. Out of this, 7,867 units were sold domestically which gave it a boost of 26% as compared to the month of July last year when the sale was 6,236 units. The remaining 4,471 units were exported by Ford India which is 114% more than the exports achieved last year in the same month. The star seller for the company has been its EcoSport that has broken all the records in the country by selling 30,000 units in only 17 days after the launch.
Ford India Executive Director of Marketing, Sales and Service, Mr. Vinay Piparsania said that “Despite the near-term difficulty in the economy, our customers have put their trust in the urban SUV EcoSport and with the Figo ranking as the best premium compact car in the prestigious JD Power India vehicle dependability study 2013… We are delighted to achieve the highest-ever sales in our history this month.”
Commenting on the export of Ford EcoSport, Piparsania said that “With Chennai strongly positioned as a regional export hub for Ford, we are excited to register the highest-ever exports too and are hopeful that the Chennai-built vehicles will satisfy customers in international markets.”
July turned out to be fruitful for Maruti Suzuki as well. This is probably the first month in the year 2013 that Maruti has seen a positive growth curve. The company sold a total of 75,145 units within the country which gave it a hike of 5.8% as compared to the sale of 71,024 units in July 2012. The star performer has been Maruti Dzire which sold a total of 15,249 units in July 2013 which is more by 33% than the sales achieved in July last year.
Alto, A-Star, M800 and WagonR together ruled the small car segment with a combined sale of 33,587 units, an increase of 15% as compared to July last year. Estilo, Swift and Ritz together sold 13,882 units giving the company a growth of 11.9% as compared to July last year. The company slowed down on its export with a fall of 27% as compared to July last year.
Honda Corporation India Limited (HCIL) sold a total of 11,223 units in the country which gives them an increase of 2.5 folds as compared to month of July last year. The star seller for the company has been its sedan Honda Amaze. Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales at HCIL, Jnaneswar Sen said that “Honda Amaze has clocked its highest monthly sales of 6,515 units during July 2013 and is maintaining very good growth momentum having sold more than 24,000 units sold since its launch.”
