Car sales grow sharply in September

Thursday, 17 October 2002, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Sales of cars and two-wheelers went up sharply in the Indian market in September as buyers rushed to take advantage of the aggressive price reductions offered by automakers. Passenger car sales rose 23.7 percent to 50,426 units in September, up from 40,778 units sold in the same month last year, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Wednesday. The growth in car sales for the fourth successive month was highlighted by a 65.8-percent jump to 10,053 units in domestic sales of Hyundai Motor India, the local unit of the South Korean auto major. Tata Engineering, maker of the small car Indica, boosted its sales by 33.4 percent to 7,208 units, while Maruti Udyog Ltd., India's biggest carmaker, saw a sales growth of 12.2 percent in September to 25,886 units, said the report. Industry observers say sales of Maruti, a unit of Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor, were lifted by a sharp price cut of up to nine percent in July on the Maruti 800, the country's biggest selling small car. In the April-September six-month period, passenger car sales posted a growth of 4.08 percent over the corresponding period last year at 258,467 units, according to the SIAM report. Sales of passenger cars in the domestic market had posted a growth of a mere 0.48 percent in the year ended March 31, 2003 to 570,473 units as an industrial slowdown and fears of a war with Pakistan forced buyers to defer purchase decisions. Two-wheeler sales in the domestic market registered a growth of 17.7 percent to 418,123 units in September, helped by price reductions and lower interest rates on loans, along with rising incomes in rural areas. In the two-wheeler segment, motorcycle sales registered a growth of 34.1 percent to 314,570 units but scooter sales fell 6.8 percent to 73,250 units in the same period, the report said. Sale of motorcycles has been rising steadily in the Indian market over the last couple of years as price-sensitive consumers have shifted focus to fuel-efficient motorcycles from scooters. A 27.2 percent jump in sales of Bajaj Auto to 72,528 units boosted sales of motorcycles in September. Hero Honda Motor, India's largest motorcycles maker, registered a sales growth of 12.7 percent to 132,127 units in the same period. The Indian motorcycle market, the world's largest after China, vaulted 37 percent last year. The SIAM figures showed that sales of commercial vehicles, which includes automobiles used for carrying industrial goods and passengers, jumped 22.8 percent to 16,253 units in September from 13,238 in the year-ago period.
Source: IANS
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