A few auto companies reported record sales in December and for the whole of 2017, owing to year-end clearance discounts, and also because of price hikes from January.

In the car segment, the country’s largest manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India, sold more than 1.18 lakh units in December in the domestic market, up 11 per cent from 1.06 lakh units in the same month of the previous year.

Honda Cars India also reported double-digit growth in its December sales to 12,642 units, up 26 per cent from 10,071 units in the corresponding month in 2016.

“As our bestseller Honda City completes two decades of unparalleled success in India. it has emerged as the highest selling mid-size sedan in 2017. HCIL experienced robust growth in 2017 backed by good demand for all our products across segments, especially the Honda City and WR-V,” Yoichiro Ueno, President and Chief Executive Officer, Honda Cars India, said.

However, the second-largest domestic manufacturer, Hyundai Motor India, just about managed to go past last December’s numbers with 40,158 units from 40,057.

Mahindra & Mahindra could not manage to equal last December’s numbers and sold 15,543 units this December, a decline of 7 per cent.

As for yearly sales, Hyundai managed to post record numbers, selling 5,27,320 units, up 5 per cent from 5,00,539 units in 2016, the company said.

“Hyundai ... will continue this momentum with strong efforts towards customer delight,” said YK Koo, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HMIL.

In the two-wheeler segment, TVS Motor reported strong growth at around 2.08 lakh units, up 35 per cent as compared with 1.53 lakh units in December 2016.

Other companies, including two-wheeler majors Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter, will report their numbers on Tuesday.

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