Motown May snippets

Car sales moderated in May with market leader Maruti witnessing a double digit growth while others reported a decline. Maruti’s domestic sales grew 10% at 70,785 units against 64,143 units in May 2008, the company said. Small car sales for Maruti—that of models like Alto, Zen Estilo, WagonR, Swift, A-Star and Ritz—grew nearly 21% in May at 53,760 units against 44,539 units in the same month last year. However, close rival Hyundai saw domestic sales fall 4% in May at 23,503 units against 24,510 units. For Tata Motors, the decline was more steep as its passenger car and vehicle sales fell 20% at 15,388 units against 19,234 units in May 2008. While the Indica range managed a 3% growth, the numbers were pulled down by a fall in demand for Indigo—cars as well as utility vehicles. Mahindra and Mahindra also saw utility vehicle sales falling by 3.2% at 12,620 units against 13,048 units. A strike at the company’s key Nashik factory last month had hit production and sales. Analysts said the car market appears to be catching breath after witnessing growth over the last four consecutive months, mainly spurred by new models and the government’s stimulus packages. The two-wheeler segment continued to drive on fast lane, mainly led by Hero Honda. It said that May sales stood at 3.82 lakh units, a nearly 23% growth over the 3.12 lakh units it sold in May 2008. “Consistent product refreshes, aggressive network expansion, exploration of new markets, clutter-breaking communication and ground activation have been the hallmark of this strategy,’’ said Anil Dua, Sr V-P for Hero Honda. Sales of TVS Motors grew 5% at 1.18 lakh units against 1.12 lakh units.