Car sales boom in 2003-04

AUTO EXPO 2004

Domestic car sales in the first nine months of the current financial year was up 26.8 per cent at 484,029 units from 381,462 units sold in the same period a year ago, according to data collated by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

The SIAM report, released a day before the Auto Expo starts here, also showed that sales of utility vehicles during the same period grew 29 per cent to 99,785 units, while cumulative sales of buses and trucks surged 36.2 per cent to 178,128 units. Sales of multi-purpose vehicles grew 15.4 per cent to 42,696 units.

"The growth this year, and the volumes sold, will be higher than in 1998, which has been the best year so far," Maruti Managing Director and SIAM President Jagdish Khattar told the media here today. Khattar indicated that going by current trends, cars sales could go beyond 750,000 units, growing at around 25 per cent year-on-year.

Cumulative sales of motorcycles, scooters, scooterettes and mopeds grew 8.5 per cent to 3.97 million units, but companies promised to improve in the last quarter as demand from rural and fringe markets pick up after the second crop.

The bullish consumer sentiments could be gauged from the heavy demand seen even during December, which normally registers poor sales as consumers in the country prefer to purchase vehicles with the coming year's registration numbers.

In December 2003, cars sales grew 36.5 per cent to 50,189 units, while commercial vehicles sales improved 46.6 per cent to 24,526 units. In the utility-vehicle segment, sales grew 27.2 per cent to 10,833 units.

Two-wheeler sales, on the other hand, was higher by only 1.8 per cent at 390,280 units. This was due to a modest 3.2 per cent growth in motorcycle and step-through sales at 303,035 units. Sale of scooters and scooterettes went up 4 per cent to 65,004 units in the month. Sale of multi-purpose-vehicles increased by 17.5 per cent.