Indian passenger vehicle makers closed last month with positive sales numbers despite the scare created by the Supreme Court's ban on the sale of BS IV emission norm non-compliant vehicles from April 1 onwards.
"March 2017 was challenging as automobile sector in India had to offload BS III inventory which was re-affirmed by Supreme Court's decision towards the closing. Yamaha however, has managed it well and logged in a decent growth for this month," said Roy Kurian, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt. Ltd.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd in a regulatory filing in BSE said it sold 139,763 units (domestic 127,999 units, exports 11,764 units) in March, up from 129,343 units (domestic 118,895 units, exports 10,450 units) sold during March 2016.
For the whole of last fiscal, the company sold 15,68,603 units, up from 14,29,248 units sold in 2015-16.
India's second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India Ltd sold 55,614 units (domestic 44.757 units, exports 10,857 units) last month, up from 51,542 unis (domestic 41,201 units, exports 10,251 units) sold in March 2016.
In the last fiscal, Hyundai Motor sold 676,827 units, up from 656,541 units sold during 2015-16.
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Tata Motors logged total sales of 57,145 units last month, up by eight per cent over 53,057 units sold in March 2016.
While Tata Motors logged sales growth under its passenger vehicles segment selling 15,433 units in March 2017 in the domestic market, the sales of commercial vehicles went into reverse gear last month at 35,876 units, a fall of six per cent over March 2016 numbers.
The wholesale figures of Tata Motors commercial vehicles were affected by the Supreme Court judgement announced on March 29, leading to confusion and the consequent focus at the dealer level to increase retail and to reduce the levels of unsold stock, the company said in a statement.
Tata Motors closed last fiscal with total sales of 542,561 units, higher by six per cent over 511,705 vehicles sold the previous fiscal.
The Japanese-Indian car making joint venture Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 13,796 units in the domestic market and shipped out 636 units of the Etios series in March.
The company had sold 7,637 units in the domestic market and exported 1,370 units of the Etios series in March 2016.
"With the end of this financial year, we are happy to announce that Toyota has registered a growth of 12 per cent when compared to the last financial year. This has been possible with the launch of our two new products -- the Innova Crysta and the new Fortuner," N. Raja, Director and Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing, said.
"This growth further reinforces the trust our customers have in Toyota products and we would like to thank our customers for this appreciation," Raja was quoted as saying in a statement.
On its part, Honda Cars India said it closed last month selling 18,950 units against 17,430 units in the corresponding month last year, registering a growth of 8.7 per cent.
Ford India Pvt Ltd said it sold a total of 24,832 units in March, up from 21,198 units sold in March 2016.
Similarly, two-wheeler makers too announced positive sales numbers for the last month of the fiscal that went by.
Eicher Motors Ltd, the makers of the Bullet range of bikes, said it sold 60,113 motorcycles last month as against 51,320 units sold in March 2016.
"Owing to our strong order book, we have cleared all BS III inventory in due time. Our customers will be receiving BS IV-compliant motorcycles from April 1, 2017," Eicher Motors President Rudratej Singh was quoted as saying in the statement.
Eicher Motors closed last year selling 666,490 units, up from 508,154 units sold in 2015-16.
Yamaha Motor India said it sold 76,144 units, up from 60,032 units sold in March 2016.
--IANS
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