Car sales up 8% in Jan, bike sales up 15%

Car sales increased 8.3% to 84,235 units in January 2006 despite six of the 11 car makers witnessing slackening demand.

According to figures released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Maruti, Tata Motors, Ford and Honda reported increasing sales, but Hyundai's monthly sales fell to 11,631 units in January 2006 from 14,540 units in January 2005.

Car sales in the first ten months of the current fiscal logged a growth rate of 5.9% at 7,07,901 units as against 6,68,382 units in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, SIAM said.

On the two-wheeler side, motorcycle sales continued their strong run in 2006 as sales jumped 14.6% in January to 4,99,333 units as against 4,35,665 units in the same month last year.

Motorcycle sales between April 2005-January 2006 increased 16.5% to 47,81,917 units as against 41,02,939 units sold in the ten months of the last fiscal.