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After more than two years, Tata Motors has dislodged Korea’s Hyundai Motors in India from the second spot in monthly domestic passenger vehicle sales. The spurt in Tata’s June numbers has primarily been due to a dramatic increase in sales of the Nano, after the mother plant at Sanand in Gujarat went onstream last month, as well as a surge in that of the Indigo.
Tata Motors’ domestic sales went up by 63.2 per cent in June, with the company selling 27,811 units compared with 17,039 in the same month last year. Hyundai saw its car sales grow by 18.9 per cent, selling 27,366 units.
Sales of the Nano, the much-reported small car of Tata, more than doubled from an average of 3,500 units in recent months to 7,704 in June, pushing up overall numbers. The Indigo range recorded sales of 7,502 units, growth of 113 per cent over June last year, when 3,522 units were sold.
A Tata Motors’ spokesperson said: “Going forward, our expectation would be to maintain the No 2 position in the industry.”
Analysts said Tata would be able to sustain its growth in sales. “The newly-created Nano segment has huge opportunities and, therefore, Tata Motors is likely to sustain its numbers because of the higher volumes it will generate,” said Abdul Majeed, national head of automotive practice in PricewaterhouseCoopers.
However, Hyundai executives said that as they made only passenger cars, unlike utility vehicles made by Tata such as the Sumo, the comparison should be only within the former category, where the Korean major is still No 2.
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