Though the sales of passenger vehicles and two-wheelers in India grew at an impressive rate of 12% and 9.6% respectively in the first two months of the financial year 2017-18, they were mainly propped up by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd for cars and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) for two-wheelers. Both companies are controlled by Japanese auto majors – Suzuki and Honda respectively.
If one looks at the performance of passenger vehicles (cars, vans and utility vehicles) minus Maruti Suzuki, the growth rate comes down to below 5%. Maruti grew at 19% in April-May 2017, pushing the industry’s growth. Maruti’s growth helped it reach a market share of almost 52% during this period, for the first time in over a decade, reports Business Standard.
The second-biggest player, Hyundai, saw a volume growth of less than 4% while Mahindra and Mahindra, which stood third, witnessed a 6% decline in sales. A few other players, all with a market share of 5% or lower, were able to show double-digit growth but on a small base. These included Honda Cars, Tata Motors, Toyota, Ford, and Nissan, the daily added.
In the case of two-wheelers, the story is not very different. The industry clocked a 9.6% growth rate in domestic sales in the April-May period. But without HMSI, this rate comes down to below 3%.
HMSI posted a sales growth of 28% in April-May, while market leader Hero MotoCorp’s domestic sales registered less than 3% growth and TVS Motor, the third-biggest player, grew at 10%.
HMSI, the second-biggest player, sold over a million units in the first two months. It expanded its market share to 31.5% from 27% during April-May last year.