NEW DELHI: Despite the festival hoopla, sales of automobile companies saw single-digit growth. Attributed mainly to the price-hike mode that all passenger car makers went into, passenger car sales grew by over 8% in October 05 and stood at 79,403 units compared with 73,772 units last year during the same month.
In the first half of the current fiscal year ending October 05, sales registered a growth by little over 6% and stood at 4,88,973 units compared with 4,59,649 units for the same period last year. The motorcycle segment, however, led two-wheeler sales by registering a growth of 29% as 6,23,434 units were sold in October 05 compared with 4,84,008 units in October 04.
First-half sales saw a growth of about 22% in the period ending October 05, selling 3,327,852 motorcycles compared with 27,28,604 in the first half of last year ending October 04. Total two-wheeler sales witnessed a growth of about 26%, selling 7,47,555 units compared with 5,93,499 units in October 04.
The segment received a growth of over 16% in the first six months of the current fiscal, selling 40,50,229 units compared with 34,73,232 in April-October 05.
This growth was led by record sales of segment leaders Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto, with both witnessing a peak in demand due to the festive season. While Hero Honda sold 2,95,654 units at a growth rate of 23%, for Bajaj it was a blazing 40% growth as it sold 1,89,169 units (1,34,673).
As much as seven of the nine-odd bike makers saw numbers going up in the month, and these included TVS Motors, Yamaha and LML. Bike sales in the April-October 05 period have grown by 21.9% to 33,27,852 units against the 27,28,604 units in the same period last fiscal.
Scooter sales, however, were down 4.2% in the seven months of this fiscal year at 5,33,961 units against 5,57,535 units in April-October 04. In October, though, the numbers jumped by a healthy 13.1% at 93,830 units.
Commercial vehicle sales were up 18.8% to 31,663 units from 26,645 units in October 04. Both medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) and light commercial vehicle (LCV) segments saw robust demand, growing by 34% and 8.6%, respectively.
Segment majors Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland continued with healthy numbers, while others like Eicher Motors also witnessed good demand.
Commercial vehicle sales in the April-October 05 period have grown 8.94% to 1,82,206 against 1,67,250 units in the same period last fiscal. M&HCV segment sales though have been almost flat, going by just 1.1% to 1,03,859 (1,02,758), while LCVs have seen numbers go up by 21% to 78,347 from 64,492 units in the seven months of last fiscal.
Three-wheeler sales in October grew 16.6% to 33,270 units from 28,515 units in the same month last fiscal. Bajaj and Piaggio witnessed healthy growth. Sales of three-wheelers so far this fiscal have grown 13.9% to a total of 1,98,103 units (1,73,805).
|
