Car sales in India continues sluggish growth

The car sales in India witnessed a sluggish experience in August this year owing to hike in fuel prices and burgeoning interest rates. During the same period last year the situation was not that bad for car sales and demand has plunged badly if a comparison is done. This is a bad news for car market as hopes are always high before the festive season in India. According to SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer), the growth rate of auto industry during April-July period was 13.55% but for the specific period of June-July the rate was lowest in two years. The companies are facing a rise in input costs and at the same time they have to compete with their rivals. This is putting extreme pressure on car makers.

    See More Maruti Swift Pictures                                                       Read More on Maruti Swift

Country's largest car producer, Maruti Suzuki India is the best example to study the dismal car sales in August. The sales of Maruti Suzuki India fell by 12.7%, thanks to labour strike and agitation at the Manesar plant since June. A sale of 91,442 vehicles in August, including 14,356 units for export as compared to 1,04,791 vehicles in the like month of 2010, is something company would never have anticipated especially when its premium hatchback Maruti Swift is high on demand.

    See More Maruti Swift Pictures                                                       Read More on Maruti Swift

Treading the same path, Hyundai Motors managed to sell a total of 51,030 cars in August this year against 50,633 cars last year. As per Arwind Saxena, Director of Marketing and Sales of Hyundai Motor India, the market seems to be tough without any signs of recovery in immediate future. It was just the 10.5% growth in exports which led the company to secure a minimal 1 percent growth for itself. Otherwise sales in India dropped by 6.7% in August compared to 2010. Even Tata Motors witnessed a three percent downfall in its August sales. Both domestic and export sales of the company fell down. While domestic sales of the the company's commercial and passenger vehicles in August went down by two percent, exports declined by 18 percent.

Read More on : Maruti Swift detailed review