New cars spur Maruti, GM sales

Honda, Skoda skid on the way.

Buoyed by the demand for their new cars, market leader Maruti Udyog today reported a 27.2 per cent increase in its August sales and General Motors India its highest ever monthly sales even as Honda Siel Cars India, which last launched an all-new passenger car 13 months ago, declared a 7 per cent fall.

Skoda India, which makes Octavia and Superb, sold 900 cars in August, down 16.66 per cent.

Maruti, which has launched a spate of models in recent months, saw its domestic sales jump to 60,229 last month, against 48,259 in August 2006.

It witnessed 28.6 per cent growth to 32,466 in the high-volume A2 segment, in which the company has Alto, Wagon-R, Zen Estilo and Swift.

The sales of its bigger cars, Esteem and SX4, rose 70.6 per cent thanks to robust demand for SX4, which was launched in May this year. However, the sales of Maruti's cheapest car, Maruti 800, fell 14.7 per cent to 5,480.

Exports "" 5,739 against 3,596 "" contributed to the overall sales of 65,968 units.

General Motors' sales grew 114 per cent to 5,817 last month, against 2,720 in the same month last year, mainly due to the rapid sales of its new small car, Spark, of which 1,962 units were sold.

P Balendran, the company's vice-president, said, "The sales for the month reflect the growing customer confidence in the brand." The company also makes Tavera, Optra, Aveo, Aveo U-VA and SRV at its plant in Halol, Gujarat.

Honda Siel Cars India posted a decline of 7 per cent to 4,879, compared with 5,247 in August last year, as the sales of its largest selling model, CityZX, grew 2 per cent to 3,095 last month.