The automobile industry, though slowly, is showing signs of a revival. While Maruti Suzuki India, the country?s largest passenger car manufacturer with a marketshare of over 50%, registered a growth of 10.4% in May at 70,785 units compared to 64,143 units in the corresponding month last year, its close competitor, Hyundai Motors, posted a decline of 4.1% in domestic sales last month at 23,503 units vis-?-vis 24,510 units in May 2008.

Sales of Honda Siel Cars India went up by 3.3% in May at 4,073 units against 3,943 units in the corresponding month last year while Tata Motors registered a decline of 15.8% in its passenger vehicle sales at 16,563 units vis-?-vis 19,685 units in May 2008. Even Mahindra and Mahindra posted a dip of 14.1% at 16,581 units as compared to 19,296 units during the same month last year.

?The market has seen an upsurge in the last few months and these are positive signs for a stable economy,? Jnaneswar Sen, vice-president (marketing), Honda Siel, said.

This is for the fifth consecutive month that sales of Maruti have crossed the 70,000-units mark and analysts attribute this to the two new models A-Star and Ritz launched by the car maker in the compact car segment.

?At a time when demand for compact cars has picked up in a big way because of their low cost and higher fuel efficiency, Maruti has taken the lead with two brand new offerings, the A-Star launched in November last year followed by launch of Ritz last month. Hyundai, on the contrary, did not have a new product in that category except the i20 which is highly priced and therefore could not woo too many prospective car buyers,? said a Mumbai-based analyst.

Hyundai, however, feels that the robust demand of its vehicles in the European market has led to production rearrangements in India, thereby impacting its domestic sales.

?Our cumulative sales growth is driven by demand for our cars from the overseas market. EU countries had taken the initiative of reviving auto sales by introducing various incentives like the scrappage incentive, which clearly demonstrates that sops do work in reviving markets and as the demand for our cars grew in the EU market, we were forced to adjust our domestic production to address the needs of this unique market,? Arvind Saxena, senior vice-president (marketing and sales), HMIL said.

Two wheelers, however, continued to register a positive growth led by market leader Hero Honda Motors. The company, which commands a marketshare of 58% in the domestic motorcycle industry, posted a jump of 22.5% in total two-wheeler sales at 3,82,678 units last month vis-?-vis 3,12,317 units in the corresponding month last year.

While sales of Chennai-based TVS Motors went up by 5% at 118,574 units against 112,770 units in the corresponding period of the previous year, India Yamaha Motor registered a growth of 82% at 16,952 units in May 2009 against 9,295 units in May last year. Suzuki Motorcycle saw a 17% jump in sales last month at 12,734 units as compared to 10,845 units in May last year.