New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS): Automobile major Tata Motors on Tuesday reported a 7.7 per cent decline in domestic sales in December on a year-on-year basis.

The company sold 50,440 units in the country last month, against 54,627 units in December 2017, Tata Motors said in a statement.

"During the month, consumer sentiment remained slightly subdued as the customer was still waiting to see a sustained level of improvement in factors like fuel prices and profitability before deciding to further invest in new vehicles," it quoted Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicles Business, Tata Motors, as saying.

In the commercial vehicle segment, the company sold 36,180 units during the period under review, 10.6 per cent lower than 40,447 units sold during the corresponding period of financial year 2017-18.

"In December 2018, liquidity crisis in the industry, higher interest rates and rising fuel costs continued to impact the commercial vehicle sales, with M&HCV and I&LCV segment witnessing a decline while the passenger vehicle business bounced back," said the statement.

Sale of passenger vehicles rose marginally, by 0.6 per cent to 14,260 units "due to good demand for new generation passenger vehicles", the company said.

On exports, Tata Motors recorded a 36.5 per cent fall in sales to 3,999 units as against 6,293 units in December 2017.

Commenting on the sales, Mayank Pareek, President, Tata Motors' Passenger Vehicles Business, said: "In December 2018, we have strived to maintain our growth trajectory during what was a rather sluggish period for the entire auto industry."