High interest rates continue to have a dampening affect on the Indian automobile industry with car sales for the month of August taking a beating. One would have thought that the country's largest and favourite automaker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) would be immune from the after-affects of an unfavourable interest rate. But they turned out to be hit the worst, reporting a 10.2% fall in sales for the month of August. As against 60,229 units sold last year in the same period, August 08 saw only 54,113 units being sold. Small cars, which are Maruti's forte and breadwinner, saw a 9.7% decline in sales. The venerable 800 was thick in the midst of the downfall with a 32% drop in sales!

Maruti was not alone in the drab August car sales story. Tata Motors, which has recently launched its latest hatchback, the Indica Vista, too was at the receiving end of plummeting sales. Managing to sell only 15,573 units in the month of August, compared to 16,138 units sold last year in the same period, Tata's sales decline was to the tune of 6.2%. Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda Motors also witnessed a dip in sales, while M&M's sales decline stood at 4%, Honda Motors could only manage to sell 3,945 units, as against 4,879 units sold last year in the month of August.

Interestingly, automakers like Hyundai Motors, General Motors and Skoda saw a climb in sales in the month of August, thus making mockery of their less fortunate rivals at the other end of the sales spectrum. Riding on the back of the i10's success, Hyundai Motors India (HMI) saw a jump of 34% in sales, with 21,610 units sold in August. General Motors also saw sales mounting with 6,074 units sold in August this year, compared to 5,817 units that it sold last year. Skoda Motors too did well in the month of August with 1,103 units sold, a climb of 22.6%. It will be interesting to note the faith of these companies next month, as analysts are of the view that the lull in sales is likely to persist for the next few months.