Car sales rev up 18% during August

New models, easy vehicle loans drivers

Passenger car sales grew by 18 per cent in August 2004 "" the fifth consecutive monthly rise this year "" as a spate of new models and easy availability of loans with low interest rates drove the industry northward.

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) a total of 62,846 cars were sold in August 2004 against 53,177 units in sold in August last year.

Bus and truck sales went up by 16.5 per cent at 23,269 units in the review month over 19,962 units in August 2003.

Two-wheeler sales in India, the second-biggest market in the world after china, jumped 13 per cent at 4.71 lakh units as motorcycle and step-thru sales grew by 14.5 per cent at 3.63 lakh units.

A resurgent scooter and scooterette market posted a rise of 11.6 per cent at 81,348 units while its sibling, moped rode fell by registering a dip of 2.55 per cent at 26,481 units. Three-wheeler sales also fell by 2.87 per cent at 24,443 units.

Passenger car market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd posted a rise of 28.2 per cent at 32,135 units in August 2004, while its nearest rival Hyundai Motor India registered a decline of 11 per cent at 9,818 units.

The company suffered production loss between April and June this year due to expansion exercise at its plant. Sales of Tata Motors soared 23.7 per cent at 11,611 units. Sales of Honda Siel Cars India also grew 97.7 per cent at 2,850 units.

Indian arm of Ford India posted a jump of 6.48 per cent at 1,758 units while sales of General Motors India (GMI)slipped by 25.7 per cent at 1,260 units. Sales of Toyota Kirloskar Motor also dived 9.83 per cent at 798 units while luxury car maker DaimlerChrysler India saw a growth of 108.8 per cent at 236 units.

In the UV category, market leader Mahindra and Mahindra witnessed a growth of 18.6 per cent at 2,355 units but UV sales of Toyota dipped marginally by 1.72 per cent at 2,562 units. UV sales of Tata Motors rose 2.88 per cent at 2,355 units. GMI sold 1,002 units in August 2004 over three units in the same month last year.

In the commercial vehicle segment, sales of medium and heavy (M&H) buses and trucks grew by 13.8 per cent at 14,201 units while that of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) by 21 per cent at 9,068 units.

M&H bus sales also grew by 5.39 per cent at 2,268 units as Ashok Leyland registered a rise of 4.40 per cent at 1,043 units. Sales of light trucks soared 26.6 per cent at 7,575 units while that of light buses declined marginally by 0.92 per cent at 1,493 units.

In the light truck segment Tata Motors and M&M recorded a growth of 11.3 and 52.8 per cent at 3,663 and 3,048 units respectively.

Commercial vehicle sales have been soaring since over last one year. Though last year, the segment clocked a hefty 30 per cent rise, this year the category is not likely to grow over 30 per cent, primarily due to rise in diesel prices, analysts pointed out.

Last year's stupendous growth came from a rev up in infrastructure activities and a number of highway development projects, including golden quadrilateral. With the development of highways, sales of trucks with high tonnage capacity is likely to go up. The focus would be on heavy and light vehicles rather than the medium commercial vehicles, they said.

In the motorcycle and step-thru segment, market leader Hero Honda posted a 30.8 per cent rise at 1.87 lakh units while Bajaj Auto registered a jump of 38.6 per cent at 1.01 lakh units.

Sales of TVS Motor, however, decelerated by 24.2 per cent at 45,715 units while sales of Yamaha Motor India fell by 2.85 per cent at 19,688 units. Sales of Kinetic Engineering grew 24.5 per cent at 3,346 units but that of LML declined by 74.5 per cent at 3,947 units.