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Our Bureau

Mumbai, July 1 June was a heady month for Maruti-Suzuki and Hero Honda in the car and two-wheeler segments as they consolidated their leadership positions. Factors such as lower interest rates, ease in credit disbursement and a more buoyant rural market helped their cause.

For Maruti, the almost three-fold increase in exports at 13,336 units was welcome news as it reported total monthly sales of around 75,000 units, a 23 per cent growth over June last year.

“Since its first shipment in January 2009, the A-Star has led the company’s exports. It accounts for 90 per cent of our international business,” said Mr Mayank Pareek, Executive Officer, Sales and Marketing, Maruti Suzuki. He added that domestic sales were also boosted by a revival in the urban market, primarily the top 10 cities, over the last one-and-a-half months.

Hyundai Motor India posted 18 per cent growth at 47,267 units, a bulk of which came from exports. “The first half of 2009 saw us maintain a strong position in the overseas market which saw a resurgence due to (scrapping) incentives in many European countries,” said Mr Arvind Saxena, Senior Vice-President, Sales and Marketing.

Tata Motors reported flat growth at 17,039 units. The Indica range grew 19 per cent at 10,210 units while sales of the Indigo sedan fell 26 per cent to 3,522 units. The Sumo and the Safari were down 11 per cent to 3,302 units.

The company’s ally, Fiat showed a four-fold increase in sales at 2,474 units against 550 units in the same month last year, thanks to the Linea and the recently launched Grande Punto hatchback.

Mahindra & Mahindra saw a 56 per cent surge in sales mainly on account of the Xylo multipurpose vehicle which has a booking order of 18,000 units.

Sales of Honda Siel Cars India were up 6.5 per cent at 5,039 units. The recently launched Jazz accounted for 2,032 units which brought it within arm’s length of the flagship City model which did 2,351 units. It will be interesting to see if the Jazz maintains the momentum considering that, for a small car, it does not come in cheap at over Rs 7 lakh

Either way, June has been memorable for Honda with its two-wheeler business getting stronger by the day. Its joint venture with the Hero group, Hero Honda, saw sales grow 24 per cent to close at 3.66 lakh units. In the process, the first quarter sales crossed a million. “Our domestic market share is at an all-time high of 59 per cent,” said a company release.

“Building a robust product portfolio across categories, exploring new markets, aggressively expanding the network and continuing to invest in brand building activities boosted our performance,” said Mr Anil Dua, Senior Vice-President, Hero Honda.

Honda’s other two-wheeler arm, HMSI (Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India), posted its ever highest sales since its inception nearly a decade ago at 1.03 lakh units. Of this, scooters accounted for a little over 59,000 units with motorcycles taking up the rest.

Sources said that productivity improvements were underway which could see production during this fiscal touch 1.5 million units. The year will also see HMSI launch its 100cc motorcycle.

TVS Motor showed a six per cent increase to 1.15 lakh units, thanks largely to scooter sales at nearly 26,000 units. The company added two new motorcycles Apache RTR 180 and TVS Flame SR 125 in June.

Bajaj Auto did not declare its sales figures on Wednesday.

India Yamaha Motor’s sales surged 84 per cent by selling 17,878 units while Suzuki Motorcycle sold 12,335, posting 33 per cent growth.

As for commercial vehicles, Tata Motors showed a two per cent fall at 26,205 units. The light commercial vehicle segment posted a 17 per cent growth at 16,256 units while medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment continues its dismal performance showing a 23 per cent decline at 9,949 units.

More Stories on : Automobiles | Performance | Hero Honda Motors Ltd | Maruti Udyog Ltd

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