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Car sales continue to grow for seventh month in Aug

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Press Trust Of India New Delhi

Auto companies hope for a better show in festive season.

The domestic auto industry posted a robust 24 per cent jump in August sales, fuelling hopes of an even better performance in the coming festival season. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), the industry sold 1,008,702 units in August, as against 811,341 units in the same month last year.

Passenger car sales continued to grow for the seventh straight month for August, up 25.59 per cent, while sales for motorcycles soared by 25.94 per cent for the same month, Siam said.

In terms of units sold, domestic passenger car sales rose to 120,669 from 96,082 units in the same month last year, while bikes increased to 611,173 units against 485,270 units in the corresponding month a year ago.

 

“During the last few months, sales were consistently growing. Of course, last month it was fuelled by some stock build-up at the dealer level for the anticipated festive demand,” Siam Senior Director Sugato Sen told reporters here.

The low-base effect during the same period last year also had a positive impact on sales, he added.

Asked about the expected demand in the festive season, Sen said: “ The government has announced that the last instalment of the pay commission (revision) will be released. This will help people to fund their purchases... Also, lot of activities in the infrastructure sector are going on... The growth trend is expected to continue.”

In the passenger-car segment during August, sales of the market leader Maruti Suzuki India increased by 34.64 per cent to 63,028 units from 46,811 units in the year-ago period.

The country’s second largest car maker, Hyundai Motor India, registered a jump of 12.93 per cent at 24,401 units against 21,607 units a year ago. Tata Motors’ sales went up at 14,755 units from 12,216 units in August last year, a jump of 21.02 per cent, Siam said.

In the motorcycle segment, market leader Hero Honda registered a 36.90 per cent surge in its sales at 389,814 units in August, compared with 284,752 units in the year-ago month. Rival Bajaj Auto’s sales jumped by 4.07 per cent at 121,644 units against 116,887 units in the same month last year, Siam said.

Chennai-based TVS Motor also registered a growth of 12.24 per cent at 40,509 units against 36,092 units. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bike sales rising by 15.14 per cent at 32,033 units compared with 27,820 units in the year-ago period, it added.

Siam said total two-wheeler sales in August surged by 25.11 per cent to 776,777 units from 620,883 units in the same period last year. In the scooter segment, the total sales increased by 23.07 per cent at 1,18,694 units against 96,441 units a year ago, Siam said.

HMSI had a growth of 9.69 per cent at 58,255 units as against 53,108 units in the same month last year. TVS Motor’s scooter sales increased by 20.32 per cent at 27,676 units, compared with 23,002 units last year.

According to Siam figures, Hero Honda’s scooter sales were up 53.60 per cent at 18,511 units against 12,052 units last year. Three-wheeler sales during August were up by 22.78 per cent at 39,201 units, compared with 31,929 units in the same month last year.

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First Published: Sep 09 2009 | 12:25 AM IST

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