June 2006: A bad month for premium cars segment

New Delhi, Jul 16: The passenger car industry in the premium category (A5) has shown quite a poor performance during last month of June, as its domestic sales declined by 25.33 per cent to 339 units, as against 454 units during the corresponding period last year.

June was the worst month for Honda Siel Cars India, which registered a sharp decline in domestic sales, as only 112 units were sold, as against 260 units during same month last year. Honda's popular 'City' model cars fall under this category.

Owing to the company's poor performance in June, the overall domestic sales of the passenger vehicles in the hatchback category in the first quarter ended June 30, 2006 also showed a slight drop of around 1 per cent at 1,371 units as against 1,384 units during the corresponding quarter last year, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers revealed.

''It was due to the sharp decline in the sales of Honda, a major player in the premium cars segment,'' industry sources said on the reason behind fall in this segment of ''big-cars''.

Hyundai Motor India, with its Sonata model in the segment, showed decline during the month with 25 units sold as against 38 during the same period last year, while Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 51 units in June 2006, which was 59 during June 2005.

However, SkodaAuto India in premium segment reported a booming 190 per cent rise in its sales figure with 58 units sold in June as against 20 during the same period last year.

Daimlar Chrysler India was the only other company which bettered its sales with 93 units sold in June, as against 77 during same period last year.

Apart from domestic sales, the export was almost zero as no car of this segment was imported by other countries in June.

Last year four premium cars of Honda Siel were exported during the same month.

UNI