New-Car Sales Stall in India

January sales reports from India’s largest carmakers indicate that the weakened market has stalled.

Sales leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., which controls half the market, says demand for its passenger vehicles advanced only 1% to 142,200 vehicles last month. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. also reports a 1% gain to 23,900 units.

But Tata Motors Ltd. says its domestic car sales fell 8% to 54,900 cars. Deliveries of the company’s commercial vehicles also retreated, falling 6% to 37,100 trucks in January.

Results compare with an 8% overall market expansion in India to 3.99 million vehicles in 2018. The growth pushed India ahead of Germany to become the world’s fourth-largest vehicle market, after China, the U.S. and Japan.