Auto cos gear up with highest sales in Feb

New Delhi: Auto sales, which have been on a high gear for the past several months, on Monday broke another record with February sales being the highest ever for a month. The industry broke its earlier record, which was set only in January as consumers rushed to beat a possible hike in prices following the Budget.

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), passenger car sales touched 153,845 units in February — a jump of 33.2% compared to the same month last year. The cumulative sales for April-February period rose 24.34% with strong indications that the worst was over for the domestic automobile market.

Two-wheeler sales during the month went up 32.78% to 8.37,653 units from 6,30,838 units in February 2009. During the April-February two-wheeler sales registered a growth of 24.58% compared to the same month of last year. Even commercial vehicles that had borne the brunt of the slowdown showed a remarkable turnaround. In February, the sales of CVs stood at 58,024 units against 31,011 units — almost doubling in a year. During April-February period the overall sales grew by a healthy 35.52%.

Total sales of vehicles across categories increased 34.98% to 11,29,783 units in February against 8,37,017 units in the same month last year. Overall passenger vehicles production crossed 20 million and the two-wheeler production reached almost 9.5 million.

The data shows that the export market led by US and Europe are also faring better compared to 2008. During the period between April and February 2010 exports increased by 16%. However, month-on-month exports in February reached 1,65,241 units against 1,10,252 a rise of almost 50%.

Early this month, leading carmakers — Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor and General Motors reported their best sales ever. Maruti Suzuki sales reached 72,332 units, Hyundai Motor and General Motors hit sales of 48,648 and 35,275 units respectively. Director general of Siam Dilip Chenoy said that the worst was far behind and he expected March 2010 to be even better, despite the excise duty hike. “Traditionally we have seen March to be the best performing month for auto sales…This trend is expected to only continue in the coming months,” he said. However, Chenoy said that there were two factors that threaten the growth story in auto that was unfolding. “The worrying areas are a hike in interest rates on auto loans by public sector banks and clarity from the government on Bharat Stage-IV...