Hyundai domestic sales for January grow by 4.1 per cent

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has announced a 4.1 per cent increase in domestic sales. The manufacturer sold 34,780 units last month in comparison to the 33,405 units sold in January 2014.

Though the sales in the domestic market show an upward trend, Hyundai’s total sales dropped by 1.4 per cent as only 44,784 units were sold in January. The company had sold 45,413 vehicles in the same month last year. This number decreased mainly because Hyundai's exports declined by 16.7 per cent to 10,004 units as against 12,008 units in the corresponding period last year.

Rakesh Srivastava, Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, HMIL said, “Hyundai sold 34,780 units in the domestic market with a growth of seven per cent over last month. This growth came in on the momentum built by leading products like new Elite i20, Grand and Eon while facing the stiff challenges of increasing cost of ownership on account of increase in excise duties. For sustained growth the need of the hour is reduction in interest rates and rationalisation of taxes to increase the inflow of the first time buyers."

Car sales in India have been hit mainly because of the price hike following the withdrawal of excise duty concessions. Nevertheless, Hyundai's domestic sales show a single-digit growth owing to the newly launched Elite i20 that has tasted a fair bit of success ever since it was launched in August last year. The Korean manufacturer will soon launch the facelifted Verna and a crossover based on the Elite i20 hatchback. Let us hope these new products enjoy a good demand in the Indian market when they go on sale this year.