Commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland reported a 4% drop in domestic sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles in May as the Indian auto industry grapples with an overall slowdown.
Within the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment, truck numbers fell by 168 units or 2% to 7,325, while bus numbers declined by 173 units or 12% to 1,310.
However, a 34% jump in the the light commercial vehicle segment supported overall volumes, helping the automaker post a 6% growth in its total domestic sales for the month.
Total sales, including exports, declined by 4%.
DOMESTIC SALES
Total vehicle sales in the domestic market during the month grew to 12,778 units from 12,077. Ashok Leyland sold 8,635 units of medium and heavy commercial vehicles in May, a drop of 341 compared to a year ago.
Ashok Leyland sold 4,143 light commercial vehicles during the month, up by 1,042 from last year.
Cumulative total sales, including exports, during April-May in the domestic market reported an increase of 8%.
The company sold 17,553 units of medium and heavy commercial vehicles from April to May, an increase of 2% from last year. Within this, truck numbers increased by 336 units, while bus numbers were flat.
It sold 8,366 light commercial vehicles during April-May, up by 1,568 or 23%.
EXPORTS
Ashok Leyland exported 394 vehicles during the month, a drop of 1,582 compared to a year ago.
Exports of trucks fell by 890 units to 47, while exports in the bus segment plunged by 254 units to 254.
Exports of light commercial vehicles also declined by 54 units to 83 during the month.
Cumulative exports also fell by 1,429 to 879 in the months of April to May. Ashok Leyland exported 185 trucks from April-May, down by 1,248 units. It exported 554 buses in April-May, a decline of 168 from last year.
The company exported around 140 light commercial vehicles during April-May, up by 109 units from last year.
Ashok Leyland, a part of the Hinduja Group, is currently the fourth largest manufacturer of buses in the world and India’s largest bus manufacturer.
It competes with Tata Motors, Eicher and Volvo.