A slump in sale of entry-level cars such as Tata Nano, Chevrolet Spark and

RELATED ARTICLES Nano sets new standard for low cost vehicles

Maruti Alto led to 10 per cent fall in the country’s car sales at 144,516 units in last month against 160,713 cars sold in August 2010.

High interest rates and petrol prices have hit the entry-level car customers the most. Barring cars, all other four wheelers such as commercial vehicles and two wheelers posted growth in the same period.

“This is one segment most sensitive to interest rates and hence has taken a hit,” said Vishnu Mathur, director general of Siam (Society of Indian automobile manufacturers).

While Tata Nano’s sales fell 85 per cent to 1,202 units in August 2011 against 8,103 units in year-ago period, Spark’s sales stood 47 per cent lower at 1,297 units (2,462 in August 2010).

Santro was the only car that sold more, growing marginally by five per cent at 6,955 units against 6,619 units in year ago

period.

Sale of Maruti’s small cars, including 800, Alto and Wagon R, fell 18 per cent to 37,496 units in August 2011 against 45,917 units in year-ago period.

However, new small car launches such as Hyundai’s Eon, Honda’s Brio and Toyota’s Liva are expected to drive industry growth this financial year. “Whenever there has been a downturn, the industry has recovered because of new launches especially small cars. We are hoping that sales will recover in festive season,” said Mathur. Both Eon and Brio will go on sale later this month.

While sales in mini car segment with engines below 1.0 litre declined 17 per cent to 45,748 cars in August 2011 against year-ago period’s 54,998 units, the small car segment (with engine capacity between 1.0 litre and 1.4 litre) decreased 10 per cent to 57,192 units (63,479 in August 2010).

On the other hand, commercial vehicle sales increased 23 per cent at 64,248 units against 52,394 in year-ago period buoyed by light trucks.

“Due to a good monsoon, there is good movement of agricultural transport,” said Mathur. Two-wheelers increased 16 per cent at 1.11 million units while overall exports increased 36 per cent at 258,071 cars.