The Hindu Business Line : Car sales up 16% in August; bikes sales slow down

Domestic car sales continued to be buoyant with double-digit growth in August while bike sales slowed to just 3.43 per cent during the month. According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), passenger car sales rose 16.01 per cent in the domestic market in August to 83,844 units from 72,272 units in the same month last year.

The country's biggest carmaker Maruti Udyog led the pack with 15.55 per cent growth at 41,728 units in August this year as against 31,117 units sold in the same month a year ago. Tata Motors clocked a 25.6 per cent growth during the month at 14,090 units as against 11,218 units last year while Hyundai Motor India registered a growth of 8.51 per cent during the month at 16,067 units as compared to 14,806 units in the corresponding period last year.

Slow growth

In case of motorcycles, growth in sales slowed to just 3.43 per cent during the month at 4,70,955 units against 4,55,311 units in August last year. The dip in sales of motorcycles was mainly on account of market leader Hero Honda, whose sales during the month recorded a decline of 15.91 per cent at 2,00,208 units as compared to 2,38,104 units in the same month last year.

Hero Honda had a week's plant shutdown during the month, which affected its sales. However, sales of rival Bajaj Auto grew by 18.66 per cent at 1,58,636 units as against 1,33,685 units in the same month last year. The gap between Bajaj Auto and market leader Hero Honda narrowed down to just 41,572 units in term of motorcycle sales during the month.

Top players comparison

Chennai-based TVS Motor Co registered a healthy growth of 34.26 per cent during the month at 74,426 units, as against 55,431 units in the same month last year.

During the April-August period this fiscal, Hero Honda saw a decline in market share even as the bike market registered a 17 per cent growth. The market share of the company, which stood at 51.6 per cent in April-August 2005, fell to 47.3 per cent during the corresponding period this year.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto's share in the bike market grew to 31.4 per cent in April-August 2006 against 29.2 per cent in the corresponding period last year, while TVS Motors' market share was up to 13.7 per cent in the period from 12.2 per cent during the same months last year.

Scooter sales

Scooter sales in August stood at 72,391 units as against 76,426 units, down 5.27 per cent. The dip in scooter sales was mainly on account of Bajaj Auto, whose sales fell to just 1,442 units during August as against 14,351 units in the same month last year. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, however, maintained its positive growth at 38,094 units compared to 31,905 units last year, up 19.39 per cent. The total two wheeler sales, including mopeds, was up 5.89 per cent at 7,50,103 units in August this year as against 7,08,324 units in the same month last year, SIAM said.

Commercial vehicles

On the commercial vehicles front, total sales in the domestic market during August stood at 35,333 units, up 28.41 per cent from 27,515 units in the corresponding month last year. The commercial vehicles sales growth has been led by medium and heavy commercial vehicles, which clocked a total of 21,110 units as against 15,489 units, up 36.29 per cent. For the cumulative period of April-August 2006, the Indian auto industry registered a growth of 16.49 per cent, while the overall exports registered a growth of 28.13 per cent compared to the same period last year, SIAM said.

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