Tata Motors domestic sales fall 8% to 54, 915 units in January

Tata Motors Friday reported an 8 per cent decline in domestic sales to 54,915 units in January as compared with 59,441 units in the same month last year. The company's passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market declined 11 per cent to 17,826 units last month, compared with 20,055 units in January 2018, the company said in a statement.

"January 2019 has been a rather sluggish period for the entire auto industry and has resulted in muted consumer sentiment. Having said that, we are positive to bounce back in the months to come on the back of our new generation products," Tata Motors President Passenger Vehicles Business Unit Mayank Pareek said.

The company said its commercial vehicle (CV) sales in the domestic market stood at 37,089 units in January, down 6 per cent from 39,386 units in the same month last year.

"The muted growth of the CV industry is due to the low customer sentiments with the base effect also playing a role in the in second half of FY19," Tata Motors President Commercial Vehicles Business Unit Girish Wagh said.

Factors like higher interest rates and lagged effect of axle load norms continues to affect company's medium and heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) segment with a drop of 9 per cent in January 2019, he added.

Total exports during the month stood at 3,270 units, a dip of 37 per cent as compared with the same period of last month due to the current liquidity crisis in Nepal, formation of new government in Bangladesh and political uncertainty in Sri Lanka, the company said.