The Hindu Business Line : Car, two-wheeler sales go up in May

Mumbai, June 2 Even as the price hike announced by the top three passenger car makers takes effect this month, car sales for the last month generally showed an upward trend.

Maruti Suzuki, which enjoys about 50 per cent share of the Indian car market, grew by 16 per cent to 69,000 units. Hyundai Motor India’s sales grew 51 per cent to clock 40,261 units in May.

Tata Motors’ passenger vehicle sales grew by 9 per cent to 19,234 units. Premium car makers General Motors and Skoda also recorded an increase in their sales figures while Honda’s sales dipped a little.

Maruti has shown growth across all segments including the M800, the growth of which was stagnant in past many months. The 25 per cent growth in M800 at 6,830 is attributed to the early despatches of LPG variant of Maruti 800 Duo which is to be launched this month. The compact car segment which includes Alto, Swift, Wagon R and Zen contributed a major share of Maruti’s sales volume with the total number exceeding 44,000. Maruti’s export at 4,858 are up by 41 per cent.

Of Hyundai’s total sales in May, domestic sales accounted for 24,510 units while exports registered sales of 15,751 units, a 47 per cent growth in domestic sales and 57 per cent in exports compared to the figures in May 2007.

Indica numbers down

For Tata Motors, though the total passenger vehicle business including the utility vehicles improved, its flagship passenger car, Indica, reported a 19 per cent decline in sales at 9,686. However, the midsize car Indigo recorded 4,542 units sales, a 19 per cent growth over May 2007 figures, said a company release .

General Motors India sold 5,789 units in May, a 7 per cent growth from 5,432 units in the same month last year. Honda Siel Cars India’s sales dipped 18 per cent to 3,944 units in May. Skoda India at 1,892 units registered 122 per cent growth. Mahindra Renault sold 1,531 units of the Logan in May 2008, 1,020 units less than what the company sold in May 2007.

The two-wheeler market, which showed an uptrend last month after a prolonged slump, kept up momentum with all top four manufacturers showing increase in sales numbers. Industry leader Hero Honda reported a 9.5 per cent growth in volume by selling 3.12 lakh units in May. The company said that its recent launches, Splendor NXG and the 150cc Hunk, are driving volumes.

Bajaj’s sales grew by 8 per cent to 1.79 lakh while TVS Motor posted per cent growth at 1.13 units. Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India showed an 8 per cent growth by selling 86,083 units, the highest ever by the company, in May.