March sales up 27% for Leyland, Eicher on a flat run

Ashok Leyland, the Chennai-based commercial vehicle maker, posted growth of 27 per cent in March sales at 10,698 units as compared with 8,437 units in the corresponding month last year.

Eicher Motors, on the other hand, registered a decline of 0.7 per cent at 3,704 units as against 3,730 units in the comparable month.

Leyland, which is the second largest commercial vehicle (CV) maker in India after Tata Motors, saw sales jump mainly in the medium and heavy vehicle segments with 22 per cent at 8,027 units. The segment underperformed for most part of FY08. For Leyland, sales dipped 11 per cent in the segment during the year. 

IN TOP GEAR Leyland's monthly sales
In numbers	March '07	March '08
NDV passenger
Sales domestic	1,340	1,436
Sales exports	285	681
MDV Goods
Sales domestic	6,545	8,027
Sales exports	223	409
LCV
Sales domestic	44	79
Sales exports	-	68
Total sales	8,437	10,698
Source: Ashok Leyland

Total sales for Leyland during FY08 remained flat with a growth of only 0.25 per cent with 83,309 units sold as compared with 83,094 units in FY07. Exports grew 21 per cent to 7,286 units during the year, as compared with 6,025 units.

Sales for Delhi-based Eicher Motors stood at 3,704 units in March, down 0.7 per cent, as against 3,730 units in the corresponding month of the previous year. The drop is attributed to a decline of 22 per cent in the heavy commercial vehicle segment.

The company sold 29,827 units in FY08, a growth of 6 per cent as against 28,072 units in the earlier year.

Eicher launched more than five products during the year, including passenger car variants.

"The new products have placed Eicher at the top-end in terms of variety of vehicles available in the 5-12 T cargo range where our market share has improved by one percentage point to 28 per cent. We have also augmented our dealer network to 104 by appointing 12 new dealers," A Ramasubramanian, CEO, Eicher Motors (commercial vehicles), said.

Exports for the company 11 per cent in FY08 at 2,216 units as compared with 2,000 units.