Automobile stocks take a beating on the BSE.
Our Bureau
Mumbai, Dec. 1
November was a horrendous month for car and two-wheeler manufacturers.
As sales figures began trickling in on Monday, the 14 stocks on the BSE
crashed. The auto index fell by 108 points and ended up as the second worst
performer of the day after realty stocks.
What was particularly alarming was the sharp fall in numbers by market leader
Maruti Suzuki. The company posted a 27 per cent fall in domestic sales to end
at a new low of 47,704 units.
Just to get a better idea of the declining curve, sales in September totalled
64,682 units and were down marginally to 59,127 units in October. However,
November's fall was sharp which could indicate that December could be a lot
worse.
Maruti has suffered, sources say, thanks to the recent tightening in lending
norms. The Maruti scrip closed 9.4 per cent down at Rs 485.5 on Monday.
Tata Motors was also a casualty of the rigid financing trend and sold only
14,327 cars in November. The scrip reacted to finish 2.6 per cent down at Rs
132.75. The previous two months had seen its car sales closer to the
20,000-unit mark and a lot was expected from the Indica Vista. Mahindra &
Mahindra also had a rough run in November. Domestic sales of its multi-utility
vehicles as well as the Logan sedan totalled 7,823 units, a 12 per cent fall
from the same period last year. Over the last three months, M&M's chart has
been dipping from 10,628 units in September to 9,394 units in October.
Logan sales in November have been particularly disturbing at barely 300 units,
which is a steep fall from 1,500 cars in November last year. "The market
sentiment is not good and the incidents over the last 3-4 days have also
affected the car industry. This will continue in December too," Mr Nalin Mehta,
CEO, Mahindra Renault, told Business Line.
Things were no better in the two-wheeler arena either except for the fact that
market leader Hero Honda held its own with sales of 2.89 lakh units in November
though this was still 55,000 units lower than the previous month.
Bajaj Auto did not have a happy month either with sales of two- and
three-wheelers totalling 1.59 lakh units in November, a fall of over 35 per
cent from the same period last year. The fact that exports accounted for 67,397
units meant that domestic sales for the company were less than 100,000 units.
TVS Motors's sales slipped to below one lakh in November. In the previous two
months, it had managed to keep its sales figure at six digits.
Tatas' rough ride
Tata Motors' commercial vehicle sales were down 40 per cent in November at
16,229 units compared with 26,985 vehicles in the same period last year. The
month was characterised by huge production cuts and plant shutdown.
The company took the worst beating in medium and heavy commercial vehicles
where sales crashed 60 per cent to 5792 units while light commercial vehicles
(LCV) sales fell 16 per cent to 10,437 units.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/12/02/stories/2008120252100100.htm
Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his
passions. Who is rich? He who is content. Who is that? Nobody
- Benjamin Franklin
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Kences1" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/kences1?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
<<inline: 2008120252100101.jpg>>
