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Drop in Hyundai, Daewoo June sales

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, July 3

THE slowdown in the passenger car segment of the automobile industry, which was evident in the sales figures turned in by Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) in May this year, is now showing on the other major manufacturers in the country.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), the second largest car manufacturer after MUL, has recorded a sharp 19 per cent fall in sales at 6,116 units during June. Of this, the Santro constituted 5,011 units and the Accent constituted 1,105 units.

However, the sales of 6,116 units in June this year was up 32 per cent over the sales of 4,634 units achieved in June 1999, when the company had not introduced the Accent and the production of the Santro had also not been ramped up.

Similarly, the sales of Daewoo Motors India Ltd (DMIL) has also slipped by over 22 per cent during June this year and stood at 4,702 units against the sales of 6,033 units recorded during the previous month. Of the sales of 4,702 units during June, sales of the Matiz was 4,484 units and the balance 218 units was that of the Cielo Executive and the Nexia.

However, as in the case of HMIL, DMIL's sales in June 1999 was much lower than the corresponding period this year. The company had sold only 5,839 units during the three-month period April to June 1999. In contrast, DMIL has almost sold three times as mu ch at 15,802 units during the corresponding period this year.

On the same lines, DMIL has sold about 30,677 cars during the six months period ended June 2000, in comparison to sales of 8,637 units during the same period of the previous year. Incidentally, part of the lower sales by DMIL in June this year is also at tributable to the seven-day maintenance shutdown at the company's plant in Surajpur, near Delhi.

Sales of Hyundai Motor India has also touched the 45,513-units mark for the first two quarters of the current calendar year, compared to 21,884 units during the corresponding period of 1999, representing a growth of 108 per cent.

HMIL's cumulative sales as of June 30, 2000 stood at 1,14,294 units, which includes 1,03,568 units of the Santro and 10,726 units of the Accent since nationwide delivery of the Santro began in October 1998.

Sales growth in the small car segment of the passenger car industry has been on a decline for the past three months and the slowdown is expected to continue during the rest of the current financial year.

Industry observers feel that the slowdown was inevitable given the unrealistic growth of over 55 per cent recorded last year and due to the steep hike in prices of these cars as a result of an increase in sales tax rates, after all the States implemented common sales tax slab rates.