Maruti June sales up 10%, M&M tractors take wing

Maruti Udyog reported a 9.8 per cent surge in its sales in June, while Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) doubled its tractor sales during the month.

In the two-wheeler industry, Hero Honda posted a 25 per cent rise and Bajaj Auto witnessed a 9.3 per cent jump in sales.

However, the third largest motorcycle maker TVS Motor's sales slipped 14.7 per cent.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange the Maruti scrip was 0.68 per cent up with the share price closing at Rs 405.30, Bajaj Auto up 1.28 per cent to close at Rs 895.85 and M&M closed at Rs 448.65.

Although Hero Honda recorded a 25 per cent rise in sales, the scrip lost 0.56 per cent and closed at Rs 504.65. TVS Motors was up 0.15 per cent to close at Rs 67.90.

The sales of Maruti's best-selling car Maruti 800 plunged 18 per cent at 10,761 units against 13,126 in June last year.

This is the second consecutive month after the Maruti 800's sales being down 40.7 per cent in May 2004.

However, this drop was offset by total sales of its three compact cars "" the Alto, Zen and Wagon R "" jumped 82 per cent to 18,768 units.

The sales were also aided by the launch of a new cut-price version of the Alto in April, while the combined sales of its Omni and Versa vans rose 7 per cent to 4,888 vehicles.

Maruti's domestic sales surged 24 per cent to 36,415 vehicles in the month, while exports dropped 52 per cent to 3,159 units.

The month was also good for M&M with its tractors sales almost doubling at 6,300 units in the month, against 3,155 tractors sold in corresponding month previous year.

In a press release, M&M has said that its new 'sarpanch' range of tractors has largely contributed to this impressive growth. The cumulative sales at 14,807 tractors also mark a growth of 65 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal compared with the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, Hero Honda topped the sales chart in the two-wheeler category with a 25 per cent rise at 2,00,922 units against 1,60,889 units sold in the corresponding period of the previous year.

For the quarter ended June 2004, the cumulative sales of the company stood at 6,09,123 units as against 4,58,784 units in the corresponding period of last year, recording a 33 per cent growth.

Bajaj Auto witnessed an overall 9.3 per cent sales growth in its two-wheeler segment at 1,12,647 units as compared with 1,03,105 units in June 2003.

Two-wheeler sales for the April-June quarter rose by 5.4 per cent to 3,18,916 units as against 3,02,580 in the same quarter of 2003-04.

The company sold 97,595 motorcycles during the reporting month as against 82,239 in June last year.

Three-wheeler sales were up by 21.6 per cent at 21,750 units in June as compared with 17,891 units in the same month last year, it added.

Bajaj's exports recorded a 38.9 per cent jump at 16,383 units as against 11,792 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

TVS Motor Company's sales slumped 14.7 per cent to 48,159 bikes from 56,444 in June 2003. The company also sold 22,339 light scooters and 21,447 mopeds in June, up from 14,403 light scooters and 21,192 mopeds in the June, last year.

Total vehicle sales were nearly flat at 91,945 units compared with 92,039 last year.