A lot of people are worried that billions of people in China and India will buy cars in droves and use up our gasoline give polar bears a tan. The worry beads can hyperventilate a little easier. India’s April sales are in. And they are outstanding “grew at their slowest pace in nearly two years in April,” reports the Wall Street Journal with a sigh.
Higher loan rates and higher gasoline prices made Indians think twice about buying a car. Car sales on the subcontinent rose only 13 percent in April to 162,825 autos from 143,862 a year earlier. That according to data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
As far as brands go, market leader Maruti Suzuki saw its sales rise 7.6 percent in April to 73,905 units. Second placed Hyundai sold 11 percent more (31,604 units.) Tata lost 1.1 percent.
GM is looking at a 1.7 percent decline. Ford saw its sales shrink by11 percent. Honda’s sales dropped 43 percent to 1,990 cars in April. Toyota celebrates at a 500 percent increase on strong sales of its Etios sedan.
China will issue official data for April some time this week, and they are expected to be even better worse as China is taking a breather from formerly breakneck gains.
