Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 10,112 vehicles in April, registering a 22 per cent annual decline from 13,037 units in same month a year ago, the Japanese car maker said on Thursday.

“Of the 11,413 units sold in April, 10,112 were in the domestic (Indian) market and 1,301 of Etios model were exported,” said the city-based company in a statement here.

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In the same month last year, the company sold 13,871 units, including 834 Etios exported, resulting in 17.7 per cent overall decline.

“The industry is experiencing a slowdown due to uncertainty of the ongoing general elections that looms over the market and the slow pace is expected to continue till the new government is formed,” Toyota Kirloskar Motor Deputy Managing Director N. Raja said on the occasion.

Noting that consumer sentiment was dampened due to several factors, including tight liquidity, high insurance and high costs, Raja hoped the sales growth momentum would pick up after results of the Lok Sabha polls on May 23 and formation of the new government.

The seven-phase general elections, which began on April 11, will conclude on May 19 and vote count for all the 543 parliamentary seats is on May 23.

Toyota’s domestic sales in March were 12,818 units and exports 844, taking the total to 13,662 units, as against 13,537 units, including 12,539 domestic sales and 998 exports in the same month of 2017-18.

The company’s domestic sales grew 7 per cent annually in fiscal 2018-19 to 150,525 units, from 140,645 units in fiscal 2017-18.

The more than 20-year-old joint venture (JV) of Toyota Motor Corp and the Pune-based Kirloskar Brothers Ltd has an equity holding of 89 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.

With a combined installed production capacity per annum of 3.1 lakh units, the company has about 7,000 employees.

The JV rolls out the multi-utility vehicle (MUV) Innova, the sports utility vehicle (SUV) Fortuner, Corolla Altis, Toyota Yaris, Camry and four variants of Etios at its manufacturing plant at Bidadi, about 40 km southwest of Bengaluru, and imports the Prade, Prius hybrid and Land Cruiser as completely built units.