The Hindu Business Line : Passenger car sales up 3% in March

New Delhi April 11 The domestic passenger car sales registered almost 3 per cent growth with sales of 1,14,195 units in March 2007 against 1,10,978 units in March 2006.

As per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) estimates,

Overall, analysts attribute the low growth rates to hardening of interest rates. They, however, pointed out that sales in March 2006 was high on account of the eight per cent excise duty cut announced on small cars thereby making the base higher for comparison.

Maruti Udyog Ltd retained its top position recording sales of 55,623 units in March this year, up seven per cent against 51,951 in the corresponding month last year.

Tata Motors' also recorded an 11 per cent growth by selling 19,651 units this March compared to 17,655 in March 2006.

However, Hyundai Motors India Ltd witnessed a 14.4 per cent dip in its sales this March by selling 19,242 units against 22,486 last year.

UTILITY VEHICLES

The utility vehicles witnessed a 17.04 per cent jump with March 2007 sales touching 27,218 units from 23,255 in the same period last year. Mahindra & Mahindra topped this category - selling 11,287 units in March 2007 - registering a growth of 17.42 per cent. It was followed by Tata Motors that saw a 23.3 per cent jump in its sales touching 6,109 units during the month.

Toyota Kirsloskar Motors had the third largest share in the segment by selling 5,433 units and recording a 29 per cent growth. General Motors ranked fourth position by marginally upping its sales to 2,175 units in March from 2,155 in March 2006.

TWO-WHEELERS

The motorcycle sales in the domestic market dipped by 3.52 per cent - 5,17,334 units were sold in March 2007 against 5,36,220 in March 2006. However, the scooters sales increased by 9 per cent touching 87,515 units against 80,118 units last year.

In the motorcycle segment, Hero Honda Motors remained at the top slot recording a 6 per cent growth with sales increasing to 2,73,452 units.

However, sales of Bajaj Auto went down by 13 per cent with sales touching 1,39,460 units (1,61,610 units in March `06). Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt) Ltd saw a 110 per cent increase in its sales touching 18,192 units (8,656 units in March '06).

The cumulative growth for passenger vehicles in the April 2006-March 2007 was 20.70 per cent, with passenger cars registering 22.01 per cent growth.

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