Passenger-car sales shot up by an impressive 51.6 per cent during the month to 42,027 vehicles, against 27,718 vehicles in the same period last year, according to latest figures released by the Association of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (AIAN) here on Wednesday.

Sales of medium- and heavy-commercial vehicles also recorded a robust 65.33 per cent rise in April at 4,950 vehicles, mainly on account of a 128.9 per cent growth in sales of Telco vehicles.

Market leader in the passenger-car segment Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) recorded a 32.17 per cent increase in sales to 31,351 cars in the first month of 1999-2000, against 23,719 a year ago.

Maruti Udyog, however, yielded ground to some of its competitors with its market share in the passenger-car segment coming down to74.5 per cent in April, against 85.5 per cent a year ago.

The two-wheeler segment recorded a modest 9 per cent growth in the month selling 275,574 vehicles, compared with 252,811 in the same period last year.

According to the AIAM figures, Daewoo with its small car Matiz recorded a 29.6 per cent growth in sales in April, while Hindustan Motors and Ind Auto recorded 43.4 per cent and 552 per cent growth respectively during the period.

Telco, which launched its small car Indica last year, posted a staggering 8,171 per cent growth in the passenger-car segment by selling 1,732 vehicles during April, compared with just 21 vehicles in the corresponding period last year.

However, Ford, General Motors, Honda Siel, Mercedes Benz, and Premier Automobiles witnessed negative growth in sales during the month.

In the two-wheeler segment, motorcycles' sales recorded a 18.15 per cent growth, while scooters registered a negative 3.9 per cent growth in April compared to last year.

Sales of motorcycles went up to127,241 vehicles in April, from 107,692 in the same period last year. The segment was dominated by Hero Honda Motors with a market share of 41.3 per cent followed by Bajaj Auto with 21.2 per cent market share and TVS Suzuki with 20.7 per cent.

During the month, TVS Suzuki sales increased by 47.18 per cent selling 26,374 bikes, while Hero Honda sales went up by 33.77 per cent to 52,612 vehicles.

Bajaj Auto recorded a marginal 0.4 per cent growth in motorcycles' sales at 27,098 vehicles during the month. The fourth-biggest player in the motorcycle segment, Escorts Yamaha saw its sales falling by 11.6 per cent to 19,219 vehicles, compared with 21,748 bikes last year.