Car sales up 9% on new models

Thanks to the new models, the car industry maintained its upward mobility, growing at 9 per cent and selling 113,899 units in January in the domestic market. The industry had sold 104,501 units in the same month last year.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki grew by 2 per cent, whereas competitors - Hyundai and General Motors - logged 39 and 46 per cent growth, respectively, riding high the demand for new models such as i10 and Spark.

Tata Motors, third largest car maker, had a disappointing month again as its sales slid by 12 per cent, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) said in its monthly figures today.

Aniket Mhatre, auto analyst, Prabhudas Liladhar, said, "Due to a high base in January 2007 where the industry had a good growth, the increase in last month is in the single digit. Tata Motors, however, saw its sales falling this year. The trend is expected to continue in the remaining two months."

Analysts said due to production constraints, Maruti will be able to produce only 70,000 units a month. GM, too, is facing a production constraint for its most popular model Spark at. The company is building a new plant in Maharashtra, which will become operational by the year-end.

Hyundai India, however, is planning to hike its annual production capacity to 600,000 units from 300,000 units.

The overall passenger vehicle segment, comprising cars, utility vehicles (UVs) and multi purpose vehicles (MPVs), grew by 8.5 per cent in January with 147,186 units sales against 135,654 units in the corresponding month last year. Bike makers, including Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motors, faced a negative month once again as sales declined by 14 per cent year-on-year.

Although Hero Honda managed to stay ahead, it had to satisfy with just a 0.16 per cent growth. Bajaj Auto and TVS Motors recorded 15 per cent and 44 per cent drop in sales, respectively.

Aniket Mhatre added, "Hero Honda was able to put up a better show due to better penetration. The company has a larger product range than the Bajajs and TVS. Bajaj's XCD bike has not seen huge sales and the company has also witnessed a substantial drop in the sales of its 100cc models."