The Indian auto industry has been struggling with sales numbers for a while now. To begin with, the passenger vehicle segment has witnessed a 21 per cent drop in sales in May 2019 as against the same period in 2018. Reports indicate a steep drop in sales across vehicle dealerships in the country, especially in the state of Maharashtra and Bihar. As seen in the last few months, the compact SUV segment has been a decent performer, while the other segments, especially the D-segment has witnessed a steep drop in sales. The drop in sales last month can also be attributed to Lok-Sabha elections in the country, due to uncertainty in future policies.
Mahindra has been the only car manufacturer to post a positive growth of one per cent Year-on-Year- in May 2019 with 19,541 unit sales as against 19,378 units sold in May 2018. The growth in sales numbers have primarily come from two new Mahindra products, namely the Marazzo and the Alturas G4. As for Month-on-Month figures, Mahindra has witnessed a three per cent growth. Mahindra cars namely the XUV300, TUV300, Alturas G4 and the Bolero have been strong selling products for Mahindra in India with a growth of 22 per cent, 11 per cent, 26 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively in terms of Month-on-Month growth.
Splitting down the data in terms of segment, it is interesting to note that the entry-level segment has witnessed a 34 per cent drop in YoY sales. Popular selling models like Maruti Suzuki Alto Alto has witnessed a 25 per cent drop in sales, while the Renault Kwid and Datsun Redi-GO have witnessed a drop by one per cent and 57 per cent respectively.
The compact hatchback segment has witnessed 18 per cent drop in YOY sales with all popular models likes Hyundai Grand i10, Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Tata Tiago witnessing a drop of 26 per cent, 48 per cent, 54 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.
The premium hatchback segment, on the other hand, has witnessed 16 per drop-in YoY sales. The popular selling models like Maruti Suzuki Baleno has witnessed a 22 per cent drop, Hyundai i20 sales have dropped by 16 per cent and the worst affected Ford Freestyle with a 75 per cent drop in sales.
The compact sedan segment has witnessed a massive 41 per cent drop in sales in May 2019 as compared to the same period last year. The Dzire, a strong selling product for Maruti has been the best seller in the segment consistently for the last 10 years. At the time of launch last year, the sedan has surpassed expected sales figures, thereby 34 per cent drop in sales is not too bad as the company has still managed to sell 16,196 units of the Dzire last month. May 2019 sales for Hyundai Xcent, Tata Tigor and Tata Zest have dropped by 54 per cent, 90 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively.
In the executive sedan segment, the popular selling cars like Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Hyundai Verna and the Honda City with a drop of 11 per cent, 32 per cent and seven per cent, respectively. Interestingly, Volkswagen Vento, Nissan Sunny and Fiat Linea have witnessed a growth of 20 per cent, two per cent and 56 per cent.
The premium sedan segment has witnessed a 20 per cent drop in sales with 49 per cent drop in sales for the Toyota Corolla, 18 per cent drop in sales for the Skoda Octavia and the Hyundai Elantra with 30 per cent drop in sales in May. The Honda Civic remains to be a popular choice in this segment.
The luxury segment has witnessed a 10 per cent drop in sales. The Volkswagen Passat and the Skoda Superb has witnessed a 40 per cent and 23 per cent drop in sales last month. The Toyota Camry has emerged as a popular choice in the segment with a 73 per cent growth in sales in May 2019.
The compact SUV segment has witnessed 11 per cent growth in May, primarily due to new product launches like Hyundai Venue and the Mahindra XUV300. Tata Nexon has witnessed a five per cent YoY growth in May 2019. The mid-SUV segment has witnessed a 25 per cent drop in sales. Nissan Terrano is the only one to witness ten per cent growth in sales.
The premium SUV segment has witnessed a five per cent drop in sales in May 2019. The Ford Endeavour has emerged as a strong seller with 79 per cent growth in sales. Apart from this, the Honda CRV has sold 66 units last month as against 18 units sold in the same period last year, thereby witnessing a growth of 267 per cent.
The MUV segment has witnessed a positive growth of six per cent primarily due to 82 per cent growth in May 2019 and the newly launched Mahindra Marazzo. In the van segment, the Maruti Suzuki Eeco has witnessed a 49 per cent growth in May 2019, primarily due to discontinuation of the Omni.
Going forward, the compact SUV segment and premium hatchback space is likely to witness positive growth.
