A lot of carmakers witnessed rising sales, following the implementation of GST. In the month of June, carmakers held back deliveries over uncertainty about the impact of GST. The data for the month of July includes the extra stock from dealers in anticipation of the festive season.
This sales data refers to cars dispatched to dealers (wholesale) and not sales to customers (retail). GST has afforded a sizeable taxation relief to passenger vehicles and utility vehicle makers, so the auto industry is likely to see strong demand in the near future.
Maruti Suzuki sold 1,53,298 units in July 2017, up 22 percent from July 2016's 1,25,264 units. The carmaker’s utility vehicle sales of cars like the Gypsy, Ertiga, Vitara Brezza and S-cross, for the first time, crossed the 25,000-unit mark, up 23 percent to 25,781 units (July 2016: 17,382).
The Ciaz saw a 41 percent increase, selling 6,377 units (July 2016: 5,162) - the sedan’s diesel mild-hybrid version, the SHVS, however, now faces a high taxation rate (43 percent on hybrids under GST), and its demand is diminishing because of the drastic rise in price.
According to RS Kalsi, executive director (Marketing and Sales), MSIL, “The situation is grim for the mild-hybrid variants of the two models. While we have appealed to the GST Council through SIAM, we would wait for the government’s response and see how things turn out, before planning out anything further.”
Hyundai Motor India sold 43,007 units in July, up 4.4 percent year on year (July 2016: 41,201). Rakesh Srivastava, director (Sales and Marketing), said, “Hyundai, with a growth of 14.5 percent month-on-month and 4.4 percent year-on- year, continued its growth momentum on the strength of strong performance by the Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta.” Hyundai intends to introduce the new Verna in India soon.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has sold 20,962 vehicles in July 2017 from its passenger vehicle business – that’s year-on-year growth of 21 percent (July 2016: 17,356). GST gave taxation relief to SUVs and this has helped auto majors like M&M.
Toyota managed figures of 17,750 units in the domestic market, with a year-on-year growth of over 43 percent (July 2016: 12,404). Massive demand for the Innova Crysta MPV and the new Fortuner SUV, both of which have clocked their highest ever sales since they were launched in May 2016 and November 2016, respectively. Price reductions of up to Rs 98,500 on the Innova Crysta, Rs 2.17 lakh on the Fortuner, and Rs 92,500 on the Corolla sedan have helped boost sales.
Tata Motors saw sales of 14,933 units, up 10 percent (July 2016: 13,547) thanks to the Tiago and the Tigor. It’s total passenger car segment sales saw a drop of one percent to 12,125 units, courtesy its slow-selling older models. The carmaker recorded a growth of 110 percent in the UV segment, at 2,808 units, thanks to a Rs 2.17 lakh price reduction for the Hexa. The Nexon, set to be launched soon, will most probably boost the carmakers sales even more.
Ford has seen sales increase by 18.97 percent, with 8,418 units sold, while Honda announced sales of 17,085 units in July 2017, up 22 percent. Honda has sold 55,647 units during the April-July 2017 period (up 21 percent), as against the 45,880 units in April-July 2016. The WR-V is now the company’s bestseller in India, outdoing even the City. The cross-hatch managed 4,894 units to the City’s 4,854 units last month. As far as numbers for the other cars are concerned - the Jazz managed 2,971 units, the Amaze sold 2,913, the BR-V 1,042 units, the Brio did 396 and a total of 15 CR-Vs were sold.