India’s vehicle sales continued to rise last month, growing 1.1 percent from the year before to 165,539 units, while exports surged, industry figures released yesterday showed.
Sales of passenger cars rose 4.36 percent to 135,697 units, while commercial vehicle sales fell 11.25 percent to 29,842 units, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said. Sales of two-wheelers were better than both, with sales rising 13.71 percent to 700,995 units.
Exports of passenger vehicles rose 33.9 percent to 29,459 units, while commercial vehicle exports fell 35.9 percent, the group said.
PHOTO: EPA
Total vehicle exports were up 26.6 percent.
Vehicle sales in India remain minuscule by global standards, but global automakers like General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen have ramped up investments in India hoping to capture some of the fast-expanding market.
Automakers sold just 1.55 million passenger vehicles in India in the last fiscal year, less than the number of cars sold in China and the US last month alone. But until last year, when tight credit and waning demand began to crimp sales, growth in India had averaged 17.2 percent a year.
Domestic sales began to recover after four months of contraction in February, with banks lowering interest rates and government stimulus measures beginning to take effect.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki, which makes about half the passenger cars sold in India, said last month’s sales totaled 64,857 vehicles and exports shot up 146.4 percent to 6,891 vehicles, thanks to exports of the A-Star car to Europe.
Exports were also boosted by Hyundai Motor India, which said domestic sales inched up 3.5 percent to 22,247 units last month, while exports grew 19.6 percent to 22,124.
Tata Motors, the nation’s bigest commercial vehicle maker, said domestic commercial vehicle sales grew 9 percent last month, the first year-over-year increase in sales volume since September. Sales of passenger cars slipped 4.1 percent, not counting bookings for the ultra-cheap Nano car. Tata, which acquired Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford last year, said it would launch both brands in India by year’s end.
“We believe that the upward trend will be confirmed with the auto companies reporting a gradual positive trend in volumes over the next couple of months,” said Vaishali Jajoo, auto analyst at Mumbai’s Angel Broking.
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