The Hindu Business Line : Passenger car sales rise 41 pc in May

BOOSTED by lower interest rate schemes, car sales jumped 41 per cent in May 2003, with the major auto manufacturers — Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Engineering — recording strong growth.

Total passenger car sales rose to 55,166 units from 39,150 units in the same month last year, the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.

Sales of cars were also higher by about 30 per cent in the month under review as compared to the previous month.

Maruti Udyog Ltd. (MUL) saw a 52.7 per cent increase in the sales of its passenger cars in May to 30,894 vehicles as compared to 20,233 in the same month last year, driven primarily by an increase in sales of the Maruti 800. According to a market watcher, Maruti's tie-up with the State Bank of India (SBI) has been able to enhance sales of its A-segment car, particularly in the rural/semi-urban areas.

Sales of Hyundai increased by 14.7 per cent to 8,900 units, while Tata Engineering posted a 192.3 per cent sales increase, with the sales of Indica and the mid-size sedan Indigo rising to 8,755 units during May this year as compared to 2,995 units in May last year.

Sale of commercial vehicles, meanwhile, increased by 27.4 per cent to 16,725 units during the month under review, from 13,123 units in May 2002. Both light and heavy commercial vehicles posted good growth during the period.

Motorcycle sales saw a modest increase of 7.1 per cent to 3,47,059 units in May 2003, as compared to 3,23,792 units in the same month last year. Sales of Hero Honda rose 12.2 per cent to 1,63,582 units during the period. The two other major players - TVS and Bajaj Auto - saw their sales increase during the period as well.

Sales of Yamaha India, however, declined to 9,070 units in May 2003 from 30,340 units in the same month last year.

The scooter segment continued to see a decline, and saw a drop of about three per cent in the period.

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