New models push car sales up

Market leader Maruti registers a growth of 19% in 2007.

Auto sales were once again dominated by the success of launches during 2007, which saw growth of 14.45 per cent in the passenger car segment led by Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra.

In December, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India registered growth of 54 and 18 per cent each in sales of new models led by launches of SX4 and i10 respectively.

Helped by launches towards the second part of the year, Maruti grew 19 per cent in the domestic market for the year with sales of 7.10 lakh vehicles. The company sold 5.96 lakh units in 2006. During the year, the company launched the SX4, Swift diesel and Zen Estilo.

However, Maruti logged a paltry rise of 6.9 per cent in aggregate domestic sales at 58,401 units in December as compared with 54,640 units in the same month in 2006.

Hyundai sold over 2 lakh vehicles as against 1.86 lakh vehicles in 2006, growing 7.65 per cent for the year. As for December, Hyundai grew 18 per cent in domestic sales at 13,078 units, largely aided by sales of the i10.

Tata Motors, India's third largest car maker, registered growth of 3.84 per cent during the year, selling 2.26 lakh vehicles. December, however, saw a decline of 13 per cent as it sold just 14,316 units. Sales of sedan Indigo suffered during the month.

SkodaAuto grew a healthy 31.43 per cent in December, selling 1,150 units. The company sold 12,596 units in 2007 as against 12,202 units, a growth of 3.22 per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra's sales declined in December largely falling demand for the Scorpio. The company had launched a variant of the car last month but was priced higher than a regular Scorpio.

Even as the Mahindra-Renault alliance sold 1,504 Logan sedans during the month, auto analysts say the model has underperformed after a couple of good months following the launch in April. The company sold 108,355 vehicles overall, a growth of 22.94 per cent during the year.

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) saw a dip of 18 per cent last month at 3,363 units. The company, however, grew by 7.5 per cent for the year, selling more than 60,000 units.