New Delhi/Chennai, Jan 1 (IANS) Prompted by a growing economy, increasing disposable incomes and low interest rates, Indian automobile manufacturers Saturday reported stellar sales figures for the calender year 2010.
Chennai-based car manufacturer Hyundai Motor India, the country’s second largest car manufacturer, saw its domestic sales grow by 23.1 percent, while exports saw a down slide of 8.5 percent, a company official said.
The company logged a cumulative growth of 7.8 percent in 2010 selling 603,819 units (domestic 356,717, exports 247,102) as against last year’s 559,880 units (289,863 and 270,017 respectively).
‘The year 2010 has been positive for the industry and Hyundai Motors. For the first time since inception we clocked record cumulative sales of over 600,000 units,’ said Arvind Saxena, director of marketing and sales.
Last month the company sold 47,228 units (domestic 26,168, exports 21,060) marginally up from 47,217 units (22,252 and 24,965 respectively) sold in December 2009.
The segment-wise cumulative sales in December 2010 are as follows: A2 segment (Santro, i10 and i20) 42,397 units; A3 segment (Accent and Verna Transform) 4,708; A5 segment (Sonata Transform) 21; and sports utility vehicle segment (Santa Fe) 102 units.
On the other hand, Ford India closed 2010 selling 83,887 units, up from 29,488 units sold in 2009. During 2010, Ford India sold more than 60,000 units of its compact car Figo since its launch in March.
‘This has been an outstanding year for Ford in India with nearly triple-digit growth rates,’ said Michael Boneham, president and managing director.
Meanwhile, General Motors India too reported good sales figures with a 59 percent growth in sales for 2010, which stood at 110,804 units as against 69,579 units in 2009.
For December, the company said its sales figures stood at 8,468 units as against 8,258 units sold in the corresponding month of 2009.
‘December 2010 sales comprised of 2,691 units of Spark, 2,523 Beat, 1,694 Tavera, 623 Cruze, 288 Optra, 271 Aveo U-VA, 258 Aveo and 120 units of Captiva,’ the company said in a statement.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) registered a positive growth of 38 percent in its sales for 2010, which stood at 74,759 units as against 54,320 units in 2009.
The company witnessed important launch of its mid-segment sedan Etios and the unveiling of its hatchback car Liva during the year.
According to an official with TKM, the company in 2011 is looking forward to the launch of the hatchback Liva in April and establishing of the brand identity of Toyota among the masses with Etios and Liva.
The company also announced that the bookings for its sports utility vehicle (SUV) Fortuner will reopen from Jan 1, 2011. The bookings were last reopened on July 2010 for a period of one month.
Two and three-wheeler major TVS Motor Company Ltd closed December with 42 percent sales growth over the same period in 2009.
The company said that it sold 171,790 units in December 2010 as against 120,913 units in December 2009.
For the nine month period April-December 2010, TVS Motors sold a total of 1,512,896 units. The company sold 168,359 two-wheelers in December 2010 as against 119,701 units in December 2009.
In the domestic market, the company sold 149,357 units in December 2010 against 102,479 units reported in December 2009.
The cumulative two-wheeler sales for the period April 2010 to December 2010 increased by 34 percent with sales of 1,485,102 units over 1,109,054 units in April to December 2009.
Last month the company sold 3,431 units of three-wheelers against 1,212 units sold in the comparable month of the previous year.
Another two-wheeler manufacturer Yamaha Motor’s Indian subsidiary said that its yearly sales has grown by 30.7 percent which stood at 350,264 motorcycles as compared to 267,895 motorcycles in 2009.
‘The sales in the domestic market grew by 18.5 percent at 258,987 units as against 218,625 units in 2009 while the exports of the company grew by 85 percent with the sale of 91,277 motorcycles as compared to 49,270 units in 2009,’ the company said in a statement.
