The country's major auto makers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Hero Honda, today reported robust monthly sales in March, despite price hikes following increase in excise duty, helping 2009-10 end on a strong note.
Continuing with the push that it had got from the stimulus packages, low interest rates and new model launches, cars sales carried forward growth momentum in March that the industry had witnessed in the whole of the fiscal 2009-10.
According to industry players, consumers' attempt to beat another round of possible price hike due new emission norms effective from April also helped boost sales.
Led by market leader Maruti Suzuki, carmakers have also registered healthy jumps for 2009-10 financial year.
Maruti Suzuki India crossed 10 lakh units sales mark in a single year, the first by any Indian carmaker.
Commenting on the good growth, Ernst & Young National Leader (Automotive Sector) Rakesh Batra told PTI: "We have seen the growth momentum continue in March 2010 and can estimate the passenger vehicle industry to end the fiscal with a healthy growth of over 25 per cent."
The stimulus packages, low rates of finance, new model launches and aggressive marketing by the players have been "critical drivers" of the growth in last fiscal, he added.
"The increase in sales for the month of March can also be attributed to the hike in prices that have come into effect from April 1, 2010, because of increase in input costs, the implementation of BS-IV and the increase in local road tax and local sales tax," Toyota Kirloskar Motors Deputy Managing Director (Marketing) Sandeep Singh said.
In March, Maruti Suzuki reported a 11.04 per cent jump in its total sales at 95,123 units against 85,669 units during the same month last year.
Rival Hyundai Motor's total sales grew by 19.23 per cent to 55,035 units against 46,159 units in the year-ago period. Its domestic sales at 31,501 units is the highest ever so far.
Homegrown auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra witnessed an increase of 16.30 per cent in domestic sales for March at 29,944 units.
Another carmaker General Motors India saw its highest ever monthly sales in March at 11,330 units, an over two-fold jump compared to the year-ago period, on the back of a strong showing by its small cars Beat and Spark.
Ford India reported an over three-fold jump in its sales at 9,478 units on the back of its newly-launched hatchback Figo getting a good response. Toyota Kirloskar Motors reported 90.01 per cent jump in sales at 6,905 units during March.
However, Honda Siel Cars India reported a 19.54 per cent fall in its sales during March at 5,928 units.
In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero Honda saw a 17.35 per cent increase in sales at 4,14,638 units last month, the best-ever reported by the company for March.
While Chennai-based TVS Motor Company's sales increased 24.35 per cent to 1,46,736 units, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India reported 76.25 per cent jump in its total sales at 1,44,288 units in March.
India Yamaha Motor reported a 27.30 per cent growth in its sales at 27,460 units. Likewise, Suzuki Motorcycle India also witnessed a jump of 76.13 per cent in its sales in March at 21,752 units.
For the entire 2009-10 fiscal, Maruti Suzuki reported a rise of 28.55 per cent in its annual sales at 10,18,365 units, as against 7,92,167 units during the previous fiscal.
Hyundai Motor India registered 20.79 per cent jump in its total sales at 6,00,588 units as against 4,97,206 units.
Domestic sales of Mahindra & Mahindra in FY'10 stood at 2,86,713 units as against 2,20,215 units, up 30.20 per cent. Toyota Kirloskar posted 36 per cent rise for the entire fiscal at 63,837 units.
Honda Siel Cars registered an increase of 17.92 in its annual sales at 61,815 units as against 52,420 units in FY'09.
In the two-wheeler segment, Hero Honda registered a sales of 46,00,130 units during 2009-10, up 23.59 per cent. It had set a target of 40 lakh units for the fiscal.
TVS Motor also reported a rise of 14.80 per cent in its total two-wheeler sales at 15,21,912 units. India Yamaha also reported a jump of 44.38 per cent in its annual sales at 2,90,211 units.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India reported a 18.7 per cent growth in its total sales for the 2009-10 fiscal at 12.70 lakh units, on the back of new product launches.
"Outlook for FY11 is strong, though growth may be in the 15-20 per cent range... With the steep increase in commodity prices, manufacturers will be under pressure for profitability, which will be the key focus in FY11," Batra said.
