The Hindu Business Line : Tata Motors reports 22% rise in sales

Sales of commercial vehicles in December 2004 were at a record high for a month at 18,467 units, higher by 23 per cent over sales in the previous corresponding period.

According to a company official, commercial vehicle sales would remain robust ahead of the impending Euro-III norms, which come into effect from April 1, 2005. The overall buoyancy in the market has also driven sales.

For the April-December 2004 period, Tata Motors sold 2,79,151 vehicles, including exports, as against 216,904 vehicles in the year-ago period. This represents a 29 per cent growth.

Commercial vehicles offtake during this nine-month period stood at 1,34,861 units, up by 29 per cent from the year-ago period's sales of 1,04,618 vehicles.

Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales in December 2004 were 12,501 units, higher by 17 per cent from 10,667 units previously. For the April-December 2004 period, their sales stood at 92,115 units, higher by 31 per cent from 70,527 units.

Sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV) grew by 38 per cent to 5,966 units (4,311) in December 2004; for the nine-month period, they increased by 25 per cent to 42,746 vehicles.

Passenger vehicle sales during December 2004 grew by 33 per cent in the domestic market alone. Cumulative domestic sales moved up by 29 per cent to 1,24,996 vehicles.

In December 2004, Tata Motors sold 4,993 Indicas, a 40.5 per cent increase over the earlier year. Cumulative sales stood at 74,663 units.

The company said it had ended calendar 2004 with a total sales of 1,67,797 passenger vehicles in the domestic market. However, exports edged down in December 2004 at 3,852 vehicles as against 4,011 units in December 2003. Cumulative exports for April-December 2004 stood at 19,294 vehicles (15,066 units).

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