October cheer for auto makers

Led by festive season offers, Indian passenger cars sales grew by 23 per cent to 1,72,459 units in October as compared to 1,40,105 units of cars sold in the same month last year.

In the two-wheeler segment, total sales during the month stood at 12,85,015 units, a growth of 12 per cent as against 11,44,716 units sold in October 2011, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said in its monthly data release said.

Motorcycles sales also shot up by around seven per cent per cent to 9,36,122 units last month from 8,77,270 units in the same month last year.

Total sales of commercial vehicles were up by 7.59 per cent to 66,722 units from 62,013 units in October 2011, the industry body said.

“There is some cheer, but the struggle is still on. Next month will be quite critical for us. We will have to see whether this growth continues or comes down,” Vishnu Mathur Director-General SIAM said.

Though overall sales went up in percentage terms, concerns remain over commercial vehicle sales on account of the lower purchase from industries such as mining, real estate and road infrastructure, as compared to earlier last year, Deputy Director-General, SIAM, Sugato Sen, said.

>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in