After posting an encouraging April, May turned out to be a mixed bag for

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automobile sales in the country. Market leaders in both the passenger car and two-wheeler segment managed to maintain healthy growth in May, while labour unrest at Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M) Nashik facility became a hurdle in what could have been a good sales month for the firm.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki India reported a 10.4 per cent increase in domestic sales during May to 70,785 units against 64,143 units in the same month last year.

The company’s sales in the A2 segment, where it sells popular hatchbacks Wagon-R, Swift, A-Star and the recently launched Ritz among other models, jumped 20.7 per cent in the month to 53,760 units. Exports in May were also up 87.1 per cent to 9,087 units, primarily because of orders for A-Star placed by its Japanese peer Nissan under a contract manufacturing agreement.

Hyundai Motor India, a unit of South Korean car maker Hyundai, reported a 4 per cent decline in domestic sales during May to 23,503 units. The company said it focused more on exports during the month. “EU countries had taken the initiative of reviving auto sales by introducing various incentives such as the scrappage incentive that clearly demonstrates that incentives do work in revving markets and as the demand for our cars grew in the EU market we were forced to adjust our domestic production to address the needs of this unique market opportunity,” Arvind Saxena, senior vice president - marketing and sales, at Hyundai India said.

The lock-out at M&M’s Nashik plant affected supply of cars during the month, leading to a 3.28 per cent decline in its monthly sales. The company’s utility vehicle sales during the month skid to 12,620 units.

“In spite of the recent shut down at our Nashik plant, we clocked impressive sales numbers in May, reflecting a positive and healthy demand for our products. We do not expect the strike to have any impact on our annual plan,” Rajesh Jejurikar, chief of operations, automotive sector, M&M said.

May was a good month for two-wheeler makers, with almost all the manufacturers who reported sales numbers on Monday posting a growth. The growth was led by Hero Honda, which reported a 22.5 per cent jump in sales during May to 3.82 lakh units. The country’s second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto did not release sales figures on Monday.