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Chennai, April 1 Vehicle sales during March increased over that in February 2009, but as Hyundai Motor India’s Senior Vice-President – Marketing and Sales, said “the industry is far from seeing a turnaround at this moment.”

Among the passenger vehicle manufacturers who released their sales figure for March 2009 today, Hyundai Motor India and Honda Siel Cars India have registered a decline in sales over March 2008, while Mahindra & Mahindra, a leading utility vehicles manufacturer, posted an 11 per cent increase.

Among two-wheeler makers, market leader Hero Honda Motors has reported a 10 per cent increase in sales for March 2009 over the same month last year, with its sales for 2008-09 increasing 12 per cent to 37,22,000 units from 33,37,142 in the previous financial year. Hyundai Motor India sold a total of 46,160 units in March against 47,001 units the same month last year, a 2 per cent drop. Exports grew 22 per cent to 21,406 units. Mahindra & Mahindra said its sales in March 2009 were the company’s highest ever automotive sales figures and also the highest ever monthly sales this year. The company sold 3,171 units of its multipurpose vehicle Xylo, which it launched in January.

Domestic utility vehicles sales increased 30 per cent on the back of the highest ever sales for the Scorpio, the Bolero and the Pik-Up.

However, sales of the Logan sedan, produced and sold by a joint venture Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd, fell to 962 units in March 2009 compared to 3,068 units in the same month last year. “Things are indeed looking up for the automotive sector in the new year,” said Dr Pawan Goenka, President – Automotive Sector, M&M, in a press release.

Mr Pawan Munjal, Managing Director & CEO, Hero Honda Motors, said FY’09, the company’s 25th year, “has been a defining year”. A share of over 57 per cent in the domestic motorcycle market particularly when the industry has been witnessing a massive slowdown reflected the strong fundamentals of the company, he said. According to a TVS Motor press release, scooter sales grew 44 per cent and exports 25 per cent, helping the company post a 4 per cent growth in sales for March over the same period last year.

Tata Motors’ passenger vehicle sales in March is 4 per cent down at 23,680 units (24,737) in March. However, this is the highest sales in the fiscal. Cumulative sales at 200159 reported a decline of 7 per cent.

The company’s commercial vehicle sales dropped 19 per cent to 29,006 in March. Cumulative sales of commercial vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal were 265,012 units, a decline of 15 per cent over 313,360 units last year.

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