Passenger vehicle sales in India rose by 7.77 per cent in February, driven by strong offtake of utility vehicles.
According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales rose to 2,75,329 units in February from 2,55,470 units a year ago.
Vehicle sales across categories registered a rise of 22.77 per cent to 21,11,383 units, from 17,19,806 units in February 2017.
Domestic car sales were up 3.7 per cent to 1,79,122 units last month as against 1,72,737 units a year ago.
"All segments including PVs and two-wheelers have been growing. The only exception is heavy buses, which is a major concern for us," SIAM Director General Vinod Mathur told reporters here.
Utility vehicle (UV) sales grew by 21.82 per cent to 80,254 units, as against 65,877 units a year ago.
Mathur said PVs would be able to achieve high single digit growth -- around 9 per cent during the current fiscal, while other segments including two wheelers and commercial vehicles would close the financial year even better than the numbers estimated earlier.
In the April-February period of the current fiscal, ending this month, PV sales have grown by 8.04 per cent, commercial vehicles by 19.3 per cent, three-wheelers by 19.11 per cent and two-wheelers by 14.47 per cent.
SIAM had earlier predicted PVs to grow by 9 per cent, CVs by 13 per cent, three wheelers by 7 per cent and two wheelers by 12 per cent.
"In the two-wheeler segment, with motorcycles doing well, we except the production to touch 23 million and sales crossing 20 million this fiscal for the first time," SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen said.
On commercial vehicles, he said the sales next fiscal are expected to be in the range of 30-40 per cent.
On automobile exports, Mathur said the sector continued to be impacted as various companies have been stressed due to lack of GST refund.
Besides, he added, various export markets are also not doing well.
In February, market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted a growth of 13.31 per cent in its domestic PV sales at 1,36,648 units. Rival Hyundai Motor India saw a growth of 5.15 per cent at 44,505 units.
Homegrown Mahindra & Mahindra registered a growth of 8.43 per cent at 22,339 units, while Tata Motors saw its PV sales jump 43.45 per cent to 20,022 units.
According to SIAM, total two-wheeler sales in February rose 23.77 per cent to 16,85,814 units, compared with 13,62,043 units in the year-ago month.
Mathur said this reflected the overall strong demand for motorcycles and scooters in rural as well as urban markets.
Motorcycle sales last month jumped by 26.48 per cent to 10,53,230 units compared to February 2017.
Market leader Hero MotoCorp posted a rise of 18.8 per cent in its domestic motorcycle sales at 5,35,232 units as against 4,50,222 units in the year-ago month. Rival Honda Scooter and Motorcycle India (HMSI) sold 16,4434 units as compared to 1,20,170 units in the same month last year, a growth of 36.83 per cent.
Bajaj Auto's motorcycle sales in February stood at 1,75,489 units as compared to 142287 units in February 2017, up 23.33 per cent.
In the scooters segment, market leader HMSI saw its domestic sales jump by 30.10 per cent to 3,25,204 units as against 249952 units in the year-ago month. Chennai-based TVS Motors sold 91,055 units as compared to 66,666 units in February last year, up 36.58 per cent.
Hero MotoCorp's scooter sales stood at 70,123 units as compared to 61,732 units in the year-ago months, up 13.59 per cent.
SIAM said sales of commercial vehicles were up 31.13 per cent to 87,777 units in February.
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