The Hindu Business Line : Car sales zoom 28 pc in April — Powered by Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Engg

CONTINUING on a positive run after an 8 per cent excise reduction in the Union Budget, domestic passenger car sales jumped by 28 per cent in April 2003.

Buoyed by increased sales of the three largest automobile manufacturers - Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motor and Tata Engineering - domestic car sales increased to 42,506 units in April 2003 as compared with 33,195 units in the same month last year, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.

Maruti's passenger car sales grew 37.4 per cent to 21,376 units in April 2003, while sales for Tata Engineering jumped to 6,533 units in April 2003 from 1,831 units in the same month last year.

On the other hand, commercial vehicle sales, often considered to be one of the yardsticks of economic growth, grew marginally by 4 per cent to 11,844 units in April 2003 (11,397 units).

According to industry officials, the commercial vehicles segment has been witnessing growth over the past few months, primarily due to increased activity in the infrastructure sector, as well as replacement activities being carried out by fleet operators.

While, medium and heavy truck and bus sales saw a marginal decline of 4.36 per cent in the period to 6,697 units in April, light commercial vehicle sales grew by about 17.1 per cent to 5,147 units in the period under review.

In the two-wheeler segment, sales of motorcycles/step-throughs increased by 6.1 per cent to 3,03,792 units while sales of scooters and scooterettes nose-dived by 20.3 per cent to 55,536 units in April.

Both the major players, Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto, saw a decline in sales of their motorcycles. However, TVS saw its bike sales increase by about 14.6 per cent in the period under review. LML too, riding on the sales of the recently launched Freedom, saw its bike sales jump in April 2003.

Meanwhile, the utility vehicle segment, boosted by sales of Mahindra & Mahindra, jumped by 20.75 per cent to 8,526 units in April.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
White-collar job seekers see more opportunities

Chamber wants technology to create more employment

IICT sees laxity in contract research

`DoT cannot force hotels to lower STD rates'

REC sanctions Rs 75 cr to KSEB

TNEB told to sort out payment row with IPPs

Electricity Act spares BEST from future shocks — Consumers denied right to choose power source

Truck, bus tyre output up in March

Water level declines in Karnataka

NCAER against `rigid' EPCG policy