Autoville's FY19 Starts With Sales Headed North

India’s top auto makers started the fiscal on a high as all major players posted growth in their April sales, except for Ford India, Honda and Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

- Ritwik Sinha

The country’s largest passenger car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), put up an impressive show during April 2018 with a growth of 14.4 percent in total sales at 172,986 units (including domestic and exports) compared to 151,215 vehicles during the corresponding month of the previous year.

MSI sold a total of 163,434 passenger vehicles in the domestic market against 144,081 units sold in April 2017, registering a growth of 13.4 percent. On the other hand, commercial vehicle sales shot up by over 275 percent, at 1,544 units, compared to last year’s 411 vehicles. Exports at the same time went up by 19.1 percent, with 8,008 vehicles in April 2018, against 6,723 vehicles exported during the same month last year.

The second-largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor India, posted a 6 percent growth in its overall sales in April 2018 at 59,744 units over 56,368 units in April last year, HMIL said in a statement.

The automaker’s domestic sales for the month stood at 46,735 units, a 4.4 percent growth compared to the 44,758 units sold in April 2017.

Exports, on the other hand, stood at 13,009 units with 12 percent growth, against 11,610 units exported during the same month last year.

“Hyundai did overall volume growth of 4.4 percent with a positive start in the domestic market with a volume of 46,735 units on the strong performance of power brands Grand i10, i20, Next Gen Verna & Creta contributing 79 percent of the total sales volume under the Modern Premium Brand Direction with Best After Sales Service,” said sales Rakesh Srivastava, Director, Sales and Marketing, HMIL.