Maruti Suzuki India’s sales fell last month for the first time in five months as higher interest rates and petrol prices finally began to reduce domestic demand.
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Suzuki said sales fell 9.2% year on year in August from 65,968 to 59,908 vehicles. It last posted a decline – of 2.1% – in March, Dow Jones reported. Domestic market sales were off 10% to 54,113 units while exports rose just 1% to 5,795.
Analysts said that higher interest and stricter lending criteria had reduced the number of cars bought with loans from 80% to about 70%.
“High levels of interest rates will continue to affect demand and volume growth,” Citigroup Mumbai analyst Jamshed Dadabhoy said recently.
Tata Motors sales fell 3% to 43,576 cars and commercial vehicles. Its local sales of cars and SUVs were off 6.3% to 15,573 and commercial vehicle volume slid 0.8% to 23,231. Exports dropped 6.3% to 4,772.
Mahindra & Mahindra sales were up 5.2% last month to 19,211 units. But it posted a 35% decline in sales of the Logan sedan made by its joint venture with Renault to 1,464 units in August.
Hyundai Motor, which uses India as an export hub for some models, boosted sales 57.5% to 44,710 vehicles last month – selling 21,610 cars locally and and exporting 23,100.
