Passenger cars sales increased by 9.53 per cent in August to 177,829 units from 162,360 units sold during the corresponding month of last year, industry data showed on Thursday.
The utility vehicles' (UVs) off-take zoomed in the month under review by 47.38 per cent to 65,745 units, while van sales were up 2.52 per cent to 15,148 units.
According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the total passenger vehicle sales, which includes cars, utility vehicles and vans, accelerated by 16.68 per cent to 258,722 units last month.
Industry data for August revealed that sales of overall commercial vehicles inched up by 1.53 per cent. The segment is a key indicator of economic activity.
The commercial vehicles segment's off-take for August 2016 stood at 52,996 units.
Three-wheelers sales, logged a healthy growth of 9.01 per cent to 50,193 units last month.
Overall, sales of two-wheelers, which include scooters, motorcycles and mopeds, grew exponentially. The segment's sales rose by 26.32 per cent to 1,648,883 units.
Product-wise, scooter sales in the month under review grew by 32.92 per cent to 567,782 units, whereas the motorcycle sub-segment sales, logged a growth of 22.19 per cent to 1,005,666 units.
Besides, mopeds' off-take zoomed by 36.83 per cent to 75,435 units.
However, overall exports across categories declined by 14.52 per cent to 309,215 units which were shipped out during last month.
Total automobile sales in August were higher by 23.72 per cent to 2,010,794 units.
According to Abdul Majeed, Partner-Price Waterhouse and an auto expert, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) sales to dealers increased significantly to cater to consumer demand for passenger vehicles and two wheelers in the upcoming festival seasons over the next three months.
"This is backed by many positive factors such as good monsoon, overall positive customer sentiment, better cash flows in the hand of the consumers and some new launches at attractive prices by few OEMs," Majeed said.
--IANS
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