Passenger car sales up 25% in June

Tata Motors' sales grew 44 per cent

Driven by positive consumer sentiment, price cuts and a number of new launches, passenger car sales in the country registered a growth of 25 per cent in June 2004 over June 2003.

According to monthly sales data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) a total of 65,046 units were sold during the month compared with 52,060 units sold in June last year. Tata Motors and Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) were the big gainers with 44 per cent and 25 per cent increase in sales respectively.

But MUL's nearest competitor Hyundai Motor India witnessed a marginal sales growth of 1.75 per cent. Car sales had slowed down in May this year after posting a double digit growth in April.

Two wheeler sales grew 14.6 per cent to 470,000 units with sales of the motorcycle and step through category increasing by nearly 13 per cent in June.

Sales of commercial vehicles, considered an indicator of economic growth, went up by 30 per cent to 23,650 units over 18,186 units in June last year.

In the passenger car segment, Honda Siel's new offering, the New Honda City, helped the company's sales jump 129 per cent to 2,769 units during the month in review.

General Motors India registered a growth of 50.7 per cent whereas Ford India sold 36 per cent more cars in June compared with its sales during the month last year.

In the motorcycle category, market leaders Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto posted growth rates of 24.2 per cent and 14.5 per cent respectively.

But dipping sales of TVS Motors' largest selling model, Victor, pulled down the company's overall sales in the category by nearly 19 per cent. TVS sold 44,281 units in June 2004 compared with 54,524 in the same month last year.

Yahama Motor India posted an impressive growth of 106 per cent with sales of 19,961 units compared with 9,687 units in June 2003.

In the commercial vehicle category, sales of medium and heavy (M&H) buses and trucks grew by 27.1 per cent at 13,938 units, while light commercial vehicles (LCVs) rose by 34.4 per cent to 9,712 units.

In the M&H segment, truck sales jumped by 37.4 per cant to 11,963 units as Tata motors posted a rise of 56 per cent at 8,222 units.

However, Ashok Leyland's sales declined marginally by 1.61 per cent to 2,491 units.