Car-makers ride the festive spirit; Maruti sales up 21%

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New Delhi: Car-makers have reported healthy numbers for the festive month of October, courtesy new launches and discounts. Domestic sales of Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest passenger car producer, jumped by 21% to 71,551 units compared with 59,127 units in October last year—the month that followed the Lehman Brothers’ collapse.

Sales of Hyundai Motor India, the second largest carmaker, surged 41.4% in the domestic market in October this year at 28,301 units vis-à-vis 20,009 units.

Tata Motors, the third largest player, reported a 17.6% increase in its October sales at 20,011 unit vis-à-vis 17,014 units in October last year while sales of Honda Siel Cars India jumped by 346%—because of a low base—at 6,909 units last month compared with 1,546 units in the same month last year.

Industry experts feel this kind of growth in the last two months could be a turning point for the Indian automobile industry that had flat growth in 2008-09.

While complied data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) for October is yet to be released, it is expected that the overall passenger car industry will grow in double-digits, continuing the growth momentum of September. According to Siam, the passenger car segment grew by 20.6% in September at 1,29,683 units as compared with 1,07,517 units in the corresponding month last year while the overall automobile industry in India grew by 9.6% at 10,92,262 units. This is in line with Siam’s revised projection of a minimum 10% growth for 2009-10 which would result in total sales surpassing the 10-million mark for the second time and would be the highest ever for the Indian automobile industry.

“The festive period of the last two months generated strong sales and has given the Indian automobile industry some respite from the sluggish performance of the last few months, and now it looks that this period of strong sales would propel the industry into a positive double-digit growth for the remainder of the year. This might be the turning point the Indian automotive industry has been waiting for,” Arvind Saxena, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), Hyundai Motor India said.