The Indian auto industry said its February sales were the highest ever for a month, breaking the earlier record set only in January this year, as consumers rushed to beat a possible hike in prices following the Budget.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), the total sales in domestic market stood at 1,129,783 units, up 34.98 per cent over 837,017 units in the same period a year ago.
The February sales surpassed the previous record of 1,114,157 units achieved in January this year.
The domestic passenger car segment too posted the highest ever sales at 153,845 units against 115,505 units, up 33.20 per cent, in the corresponding month last year. It was the 11th straight month of growth for the segment.
Earlier, the car manufacturers had touched a peak in January this year, at 145,905 units.
During the month, all the major manufacturers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor and General Motors, reported their individual best sales.
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“The highest ever sales by the auto industry was achieved mainly because of the preponement of buying, as people truly anticipated an excise duty hike in the Budget. Also, it was pushed little by pent-up demand,” Siam Director General Dilip Chenoy told reporters here.
The industry is expected to continue the robust uphill drive in the current month, as customers would try to avoid another obvious price hike in April on account of shifting to a stricter emission norms, he added.
Passenger cars and commercial vehicles will switch over to Bharat Stage-IV emission norms in 13 cities, while the rest of the country will become Bharat Stage-III compliant from April.
Chenoy, however, cautioned that growth could receive a jolt if interest rates were raised in the coming months.
“Recently, private banks have hiked rates, but in the last one year, the financing of vehicles have heavily skewed towards the public sector banks... If interest rate hikes are significant, it can be detrimental to the industry,” he added.
In the motorcycle segment, sales rose 30.72 per cent to 642,419 units in February from 491,451 units in the same month in 2009, SIAM said.
“The anticipation of a hike in excise duty helped the motorcycle segment to post highest monthly sales of this fiscal,” Chenoy said.
The Budget hiked the excise duty on all non-petroleum sectors to 10 per cent from eight per cent, besides raising duty on big cars, SUVs and MUVs to 22 per cent from 20 per cent.
Carrying forward the upward march that began in July 2009, sale of commercial vehicles soared by 87.11 per cent to 58,024 units against 31,011 units in the same month in 2009.
In the domestic passenger car segment, sales of market leader Maruti Suzuki increased by 18.20 per cent to 73,812 units in February from 62,449 units in the year-ago period.
The country’s second largest carmaker Hyundai Motor India also registered 46.14 per cent growth at 31,000 units compared with 21,212 units in February 2009, SIAM said.
Tata Motors’ sales rose to 22,980 units from 15,524 units in February 2009, up 48.03 per cent.
In the motorcycle segment, market leader Hero Honda’s sales rose 13.91 per cent to 3,49,746 units in February 2010 compared with 307,034 units in the same month last year.
For rival Bajaj Auto, sales soared by 94.23 per cent to 175,725 units in February against 90,473 units same month last year.
Chennai-based TVS Motor Company posted 34.70 per cent growth at 46,047 units from 34,183 units in the same month a year ago.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) saw bike sales rise 23.87 per cent to 45,326 units from 36,593 units.
SIAM said total two-wheeler sales in February 2010 surged 32.78 per cent to 837,653 units from 630,838 units in the corresponding month in 2009.
In the scooter segment, sales jumped 44.72 per cent to 145,857 units against 100,789 units in the year-ago period, it added.
HMSI’s scooter sales were up 19.96 per cent at 69,828 units against 58,209 units in the same month previous year.
SIAM said TVS Motor’s scooter sales also increased by 37.89 per cent at 25,979 units compared with 18,841 units in the same month in 2009.
Hero Honda’s scooter sales were up 46.52 per cent at 22,641 units against 15,452 units in the year-ago period.
Three-wheeler sales during February were up 31.85 per cent at 39,558 units compared with 30,002 units, it added.
Light commercial vehicle sales rose 65.72 per cent to 29,925 units from 18,058 units.
Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales surged over two times to 28,099 units compared with 12,953 units in the same month previous year, SIAM said.