Increased dispatches of cars and motorcycles during last month has pushed growth of the entire auto industry by 12.66 per cent at 836,926 units as against 742,856 units recorded in the same month last year.
Among the segments, the passenger car segment faired the best where companies like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors, Honda Siel pushed the segments' growth to 21.77 per cent at sales of 115,386 units, a release from the country's top automobile body the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) stated today.
Maruti Suzuki, market leader in the car segment led the growth with sales rising by 19 per cent while sales of its prime competitor Hyundai Motors grew by 45 per cent during February. Both companies were riding strong on models like SX4, Swift DZire, A-Star, i10 and i20, which have gathered strong demand since launch.
Similarly, the motorcycle segment posted a growth of 15.61 per cent for the same period with sales at 491,462 units as compared to 425,089 units. Here the country's top two wheeler maker Hero Honda led the rise. Bajaj Auto was the only company, which posted a fall in sales during the month.
The entire two wheeler industry, comprising motorcycles, scooters, mopeds and electric two wheelers posted a growth of 16.23 per cent at 630,849 units as compared to 542,757 units during February last year.
One of the primary reasons behind the high double digit growth rate despite having disappointing previous months where companies reported negative growth, is speculated to be fresh vehicle dispatches from manufacturers to dealers as the same was done in a restricted manner in earlier months.
Besides, analysts say that improved finance availability in the market following increased presence of public sector bank's have propelled growth.
Surjeet Arora, analyst, Prabhudas Liladhar said, "Many automotive companies had tied-up with banks to help bring back liquidity in the market. This has most certainly helped automotive companies to encourage purchases. However, growth after March will be subdued as the pent up demand of November and December will or has already been met in this quarter".
However, due to falling demand for medium and heavy duty trucks the commercial vehicle segment posted a disappointing total once again.
The segment posted a fall of 31.68 per cent at 31,069 units during February as compared to 45,478 units posted same month last year.
