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Global cars crawl in market: automobile sales dip

Car market leader Maruti Udyog Limited closed the 1998-99 fiscal with a 5.6 per cent drop in sales even as Telco, riding on the Indica wave, closed the year with a 119 per cent surge in sales.

However, the automobile industry, in spite of massive sales by new entrants -- Hyundai, Daewoo, Honda and Mitsubishi -- closed the year with a 1.1 per cent slide in sales, latest industry estimates revealed.

A total of 387,481 units of passenger cars were sold during the period as against 383,130 units last year.

Maruti, hit hard by the intense onslaught by back-to-back launches of Santro, Matiz and Indica, closed the financial year with total sales of 302,778 units as against 321,031 units in the previous fiscal, according to the estimates.

During the final month of the fiscal, the company sold 31,200 units. Meanwhile, provisional sales figures of the industry pointed out that Telco sold a total of 3,803 units of passenger vehicles during the fiscal as against 1,736 units last year, up 119 per cent.

During March 1999, the company sold 2,600 vehicles, which included 2,500 units of Indica.

The only other manufacturers to have recorded positive growth during the period were Mercedes Benz India Limited and Ind Auto Limited, whose retails were 44 per cent and 20 per cent higher respectively than the previous year.

Mercedes-Benz sold around 500 E-class Sedans in 1998-99 as against 345 units the previous fiscal. Ind Auto closed the year at 13,485 units from 11,263 units a year ago.

Honda Siel Cars India Limited closed the year with a total sales figure of 9,572 units as against 1,220 units in the last three months of the previous fiscal. The company had commenced sales of its City car in January 1998.

PAL-Peugeot was the major loser during the year, witnessing a 91.4 per cent drop in retails. The company sold 434 units of its Peugeot 309 cars in 1998-99 as against 5,102 units last year.

General Motors sold around 3,429 cars during the period, which was 54.5 per cent lower than 7,548 units last year, while Ford India Limited sold 3,116 units of Ford Escort as against 6,451 units last year, down 51.6 per cent.

Hindustan Motors sold 15,958 units of passenger cars during the period, down 29 per cent from 22,676 units the previous year.

Daewoo Motor India Limited, in spite of the launch of its much-awaited small car Matiz, closed the year with a 2.6 per cent drop in sales during the year. Around 9,842 units of Cielo and Matiz were sold during the year as against 10,109 units of just Cielo in 1997-98.

During 1998-99 fiscal, Hyundai Motor India Limited sold 17,647 units of Santro while Mitsubishi sold 2,856 units of Lancer.

UNI

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