Indian car sales 2012, winners and losers

Car sales grow 9% in 2012, but hopes rise for 2013

The year 2012 hasn’t been a great one for carmakers in India, with most manufacturers witnessing slower than expected growth compared to the previous year, except a few of the new ones, such as Renault and Nissan.

Overall, most carmakers saw growth in 2012, but at a slower than expected pace. Overall cars sales for the popular passenger car segment (of cars under Rs. 25 lakh) grew about 9% year on year, with Maruti recording sales of over 1.5 million cars in 2012, and continuing to dominate the passenger car space. Overall growth for Maruti though was just 6% year on year. Also read: Newly launched car sales hits and misses

Winners of 2012

The biggest growth percentage wise, of course, comes for the newbies in the car market such as Renault and Nissan. Renault launched five car models between May 2011 and September 2012, which has taken its sales from a mere 1,228 cars in 2011 to 35,157 cars in 2012, thanks largely to the success of the Renault Duster that continues to sell well over 4,000 units a month. Sister company Nissan too has seen its sales more than double from 22,817 cars in 2011 to 45,248 cars in 2012, on the back of the successful sales of the Nissan Sunny. Also read: Most successful launches of 2012

The second-largest carmaker in terms of sales after Maruti is Hyundai, whose sales though haven’t really been stellar, but have shown a moderate increase of only 4% growth year on year, with sales of the Hyundai Verna and Hyundai i20 continuing to be strong, while the Eon too has grown marginally, while the Hyundai i10’s sales seem to have stagnated.

Mahindra has seen a healthy amount of growth in 2012 compared to 2011, with the sales of the Mahindra XUV500, Xylo, refreshed Verito and Quanto adding to its numbers. The company’s sales have gone up by over 32% year on year!

Honda and Toyota are the other two carmakers that have seen reasonably good growth year on year, with Toyota going up to 1.72 lakh cars in 2012 from 1.34 lakh in 2011. Honda, despite not having a diesel engine in its portfolio, has managed to grow thanks to the Honda Brio and Honda City which have been giving decent sales figures through the year. Honda is up from about 47,500 cars in 2011 to over 73,000 cars in 2012. Also read: Upcoming cars from Maruti in 2013

 

Losers of 2012

But all has not been well for the other carmakers in the industry. Tata, although one of the largest carmakers in India in terms of volume, has sold fewer vehicles in 2012 than it did in 2011. Sales of Tata Motors cars are down about 1% from 2.93 lakh vehicles to 2.9 lakh vehicles.

Sales of Ford cars have slipped as well, with sales dropping to about 87,600 cars in 2012 in the domestic market compared to over 96,000 the previous year. Sales of the Ford Classic have been holding steady, while the Ford Figo has been slipping slightly and the new Fiesta not really chalking up much by sales.

Chevrolet too has seen its sales slump nearly 12% from the previous year, despite the launch of a couple of new models (such as the Chevrolet Sail U-Va and new Captiva). Sales of the Beat have been steady though.

The other losers of 2012 are Volkswagen and Fiat, which have seen a decline in sales, with Fiat recording one of the lowest total sales among all carmakers at just 11,131 cars for the entire 2012 – lower than what many sell in a month, and lower than some luxury carmakers such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi!  Also read: Game changer cars of 2012