Auto sales vroom in April

Hyundai sales increased 121%, Honda Siel sales up 28% while Maruti sales fell 4%.

Barring market leader Maruti Udyog, all major passenger car and two-wheeler manufacturers in the country have reported growth in sales in April 2005 over the same period last year.

Maruti reported a 4 per cent drop in April sales at 38,190 cars against 39,838 sold in April 2004.

Its competitor Hyundai Motor India Ltd, however, reported a growth of 136 per cent in domestic sales to 13,362 units. Hyundai's exports accounted for 6,553 cars, registering 97 per cent growth.

Hyundai's cumulative sales, including exports, stood at 19,915 units in April 2005, an increase of 121 per cent over the same period last year.

The country's only A-segment car, Maruti 800, reported a steep fall of 38 per cent in sales to 6,910 units in April 2005, against 11,097 in April 2004.

Although exports are not a major component of Maruti's sales, they, too, suffered with a significant drop of 58 per cent to 1,218 units in April 2005 against 2,910 in April 2005.

In April 2005, Hyundai sold 14,552 Santros, 1,026 Getz, 3,791 Accents, 206 Elantras, 119 Sonatas, 200 newly-launched SUV Tucsons, and 21 Terracans.

Premium and luxury carmaker Honda Siel Cars India registered sales of 3,575 units in April 2005, or 28 per cent over 2,793 units sold in the same period last year.

Two-wheeler market leader Hero Honda started the year with sales of 235,422 motorcycles in April 2005, a jump of 20.09 per cent compared with the corresponding period in the last year.

The company had sold 196,024 motorcycles in April 2004. India's second largest two-wheeler company Bajaj Auto reported a 52 per cent jump in motorcycle sales in April 2005. It sold 137,858 motorcycles.

Total two-wheeler sales, too, jumped by 40 per cent to 147,592 units in April 2005. Exports by Bajaj Auto for the month was 19,007 units against 16,838 units in April 2004 "" an increase of 13 per cent.

The total two-wheeler sales of Chennai-based TVS Motor Company in April 2005 stood at 92,400 units compared with 81,032 units in April 2004, recording a growth of 14 per cent.

The overall increase in two-wheeler sales was the result of a 13 per cent growth in motorcycle sales which recorded 52,825 units in April 2005 compared with 46,881 units during the same period last year.

The company's scooterette sales achieved a growth of 27 per cent, clocking 19,279 units in April 2005 compared with 15,172 units recorded last year.