The country’s second-largest car maker Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today reported 2.48 per cent fall in total sales at 47,833 units in December 2012.
The company had sold 49,050 units in the corresponding month previous year, HMIL said in a statement.
In the domestic market, the company recorded a decline of 9.55 per cent in sales at 26,697 units compared to 29,516 units in the year ago period.
Exports of the company, however, went up by 8.20 per cent to 21,136 units during the month under review from 19,534 units in the same period previous year, the statement said.
In the A2 segment (Eon, Santro, i10 and i20), the company sold 41,069 units, while sales in the A3 segment (Accent and Verna) stood at 6,270 units in December 2012.
The company sold 46 units of the sports utility vehicle Santa Fe during the month. Sales of luxury sedan Sonata stood at 20 units, while Elantra witnessed 428 purchases.
For the entire 2012, HMIL’s total sales rose by 4.08 per cent to 6,41,281 units from 6,16,140 units in 2011.
The domestic sales during last year increased by 4.70 per cent to 3,91,276 units from 3,73,709 units, while exports went up by 3.12 per cent to 2,50,005 units from 2,42,431 units in the previous year, the company said.
“In the year 2012, in difficult market conditions, we refreshed i20, launched Sonata and Elantra which resulted in strong volumes and consolidated our leadership position,” HMIL Vice President (Sales and Marketing), Rakesh Srivastava said.
The marketing initiatives in the rural market, corporate sales and focused efforts on exchange sales through Hyundai Advantage helped in increasing sales of petrol variants and it was led by Eon and i10, he added.
“The increased production capacity of diesel vehicles with strong price value equations gave a higher than industry growth in diesel models. Overall, we were able to improve on volumes while maintaining market share in passenger cars,” Srivastava said.