Total luxury car sales in the first half stood at 24,664 units, against 27,1341 units in the corresponding period last year, recording a negative growth of 9.8 per cent, industry sources said.

However, Maruti Udyog Ltd's (MUL) performance belied the industry situation as the country's largest carmaker notched up a 9 per cent growth in the first half, against the same period last year.

As many as 10,097 Maruti Esteem cars were sold in the first half, against 9,259 cars sold last year, providing the market leader a solacing track record at time when it is in for a cut-throat competition in the small-car segment.

On the receiving end of the economic slowdown that has affected the auto industry in particular were international majors Ford and General Motors, who saw their sales plummet 54 per cent and 64 per centrespectively.

While 1,977 Ford Escort cars were sold during the period, against 4,331 units sold last year, sales figures of General Motor's Opel Astra stood at 1,973 units over last year's 5,470 units, the sources said.

South Korean chaebol Daewoo, now gearing up for the launch of its small-car `Matiz', had a drop of 23.6 per cent in the first half at a total sales of 4,213 units of Cielo over last year's 5,512 units, the sources said.

The latest entrant in the segment Honda City has, however, a nice drive in the period as it gathered a market share of 20.6 per cent by selling 5,090 cars.

Other players Telco and Hindustan Motors (HM) also had a tough time with their vehicles finding it difficult to offer any competition to the multinationals.

Telco sold 545 units of its Siera and Estate over 873 units in the same period last year, while HM sold 313 units of Contessa over 689 units last year.

When it comes to market share, MUL clocked a figure of 40.9 in the period, followed by Honda City with20.6 per cent and Daewoo Cielo 17.1 per cent, the sources said.