Car makers have kicked-off the new fiscal on a strong note, despite higher fuel prices and chances of a spike in interest rates looming in the near future. Top makers like Maruti, Mahindra, and Tata Motors opened the fiscal 2018-19 with double-digit growth in April as new models and attractive schemes helped sales. After launching its new-gen version of its hatchback Swift, Maruti sold a total of 1,60,000 units in April, a growth of 13 per cent over the 1,40,000 units sold in the same month last year.
Company chairman RC Bhargava said that Maruti, which will invest £500 million over the next 12 months, expects to grow by double-digit this fiscal after realising a 14 per cent growth last year. Tata Motors, which has seen a turnaround after encouraging numbers for the Tiago hatchback and the Nexon mini SUV, reported a 34 per cent growth in April volumes at 17,235 units against 12,827 units in the same month last year. Mayank Pareek, president of Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, said, “While there were challenges in the market, strong demand for new products led the growth for us.” Mahindra and Mahindra, which launched a new version of its XUV500 SUV, said numbers are higher by 13 per cent at 21,927 units.
Companies, however, are worried about the impact of higher fuel prices and possible inflationary trends emanating from it. “Increasing inflation trajectory which might weigh on customer’s access and cost to credit, coupled with increasing crude prices, could lead to passenger vehicle industry growing at low single digits,” Anurag Mehrotra, president and MD of Ford India, said. Honda cars saw a 37 per cent decline in volumes, because the company did not deliver the older-generation Amaze to dealerships. A company official said the new Amaze is hitting the roads soon.
