INDIAN PASSENGER CAR INDUSTRY IN 2013 – 14 [APRIL – AUGUST]

The economic scenario of the country has not looked overtly positive in the first 5 months of the current fiscal. This year, being the election year, will be tumultuous with less fiscal initiatives to boost the economy and major push expected to come from the RBI. Amidst this scene, RBI hasn’t reduced its interest rates by a heavy margin. This has reduced a lot of capital in the market and hence a general slowdown in being observed. 

Automobile industry and especially the passenger cars are dependent on the cash abundance in the public domain. That is the reason why this industry is facing slowdown too.

The passenger car numbers are not impressive leading to the festival time. 

Apr-13	May-13	Jun-13	Jul-13	Aug-13
199496	193338	187458	176949	180897

Let’s look at the scenario with the manufacturers:-

Column1	Apr-13	May-13	Jun-13	Jul-13	Aug-13	Overall MS
Maruti	90523	77821	77002	75145	76018	42%
Hyundai	32403	32102	30606	25965	28311	16%
Mahindra	20749	22244	17232	15530	15821	10%
Tata	11570	11134	11804	10824	11564	6%
Toyota	9007	10023	11010	11515	12007	6%
Honda	8488	11340	9297	11222	8913	5%
Ford	4003	4002	7145	7867	8008	3%
Chevrolet	8196	8496	6575	6503	6673	4%
Renault	6314	6300	6007	3763	3733	3%
Volkswagen	4566	5116	5356	4739	4805	3%
Nissan	1239	2080	2954	1225	2494	1%
Skoda	1934	1916	1579	1560	1374	1%
Fiat	391	620	775	928	1003	0%
HM-MITSUBISHI	113	144	116	163	173	0%
Grand Total	199496	193338	187458	176949	180897

- Maruti Suzuki still manages to hold on the NUMERO UNO position with a healthy market share of 42%

- Hyundai has been threatened by some of the other players but is still a strong No. 2 in the list.

- Mahindra showed a lot of promise with XUV 500 but the initial boom has fizzed out by now and is facing the heat from the soft roaders in the market. Going is expected to be tough for this UV company.

- Tata Motors looks quite content in this position for a while now with steady monthly number of 11k types. Sad story indeed especially when one thinks of the glorious past. A few months in passive mode and you might see the rank of this company slip further down the ladder.

- Toyota has been going steady even though they have not had a launch vehicle to boost their sales. Innova is still their lead player with it raking 5.5k alone.

- Honda has seen a surge in its numbers, thanks to a positive response on Amaze. However, the other models are fading out and pose a serious question to the management.

- Skoda looks to have given up the race already. Chevrolet has a lot of internal problems to deal with and the numbers are not helping them either. Fiat is on its comeback trail. For the first time in this fiscal, the company has clocked 1000 numbers and that’s not a mean feat with just 2 models. Volkswagen has been going steady even though they have not had a launch to help their cause. Renault and Nissan are trying hard to gain numbers but limited distribution network and less number of models in their stable is hurting them bad.

Now, what kind of vehicles are getting sold?

	Apr-13	May-13	Jun-13	Jul-13	Aug-13
HATCH	52%	50%	54%	52%	53%
SEDAN	23%	24%	20%	22%	21%
MUV	17%	17%	16%	17%	17%
SUV	8%	9%	9%	9%	9%

Even though the SUV market has seen a lot of action in the recent past, but the number game is still being played by the hatchbacks. This clearly shows that the economic slowdown is shifting the customer preference towards the lower-priced hatchbacks.

PRODUCTS ON THE RISE

Make	Model	Apr-13	May-13	Jun-13	Jul-13	Aug-13
Ford	Ecosport			4002	4715	5372
Honda	Amaze	4852	6036	4965	6515	6242
Toyota	Innova	3192	4216	4964	4677	5075
Chevrolet	Beat	1986	1506	2081	2479	2926
Toyota	Liva	1832	1934	1951	2097	2578
Chevrolet	Enjoy	691	2173	2578	2235	2200
Tata	Nano	948	1014	2003	2052	2081

Ecosport and Amaze are definitely on the rise and expected to give good numbers to their respective manufacturers in the coming months.  These 7 vehicles are expected to show growth in the coming months too.

PRODUCTS SLIPPING AWAY …

Make	Model	Apr-13	May-13	Jun-13	Jul-13	Aug-13
Renault	Duster	5362	5146	4523	3089	2967
Hyundai	Santro	4264	4274	4721	2961	2417
Honda	City	1917	3202	1830	1953	953
Chevrolet	Sail Sedan	2469	2027	998	789	841
Skoda	Rapid	1585	1121	1142	1077	810
Ford	Fiesta New	101	53	233	16	19
Chevrolet	Tavera	1571	1475	-26	93	-3

Duster came into scene with a lot of promise but the customers are slowly moving into better alternatives like Ertiga, Ecosport or the bigger ones. Santro, Hyundai’s old warhorse, is slowly fading away and i10 Grand is expected to takes its place in the near future. It’s a matter of time before these models become history from the Indian Automobile scene.

September marks the first month of the festive season and it remains to be seen how the company’s fare and how the customers behave!