General Motors India and Mercedes Benz India Ltd recorded lower sales duringthe period.

Improvement in sluggish market conditions continued as all car companiessold 5.09 lakh units during the first 10 months of the current fiscal.Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL), which has a market share of about 65 per cent in thepassenger car market, clocked a 22.3 per cent growth in sales by selling3.23 lakh vehicles during April-January as against 2.64 lakh units in thecomparable period the previous year.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) sold 59,773 units in the 10-month period and8,655 units in January 2000 and Telco car sales witnessed a 20 times jump to43,053 units during the same period from 2,180 units in the same period of1998-99. Honda Siel sales, however, decreased to 7,383 units during theperiod from 7,668 in the previous year. In January, Honda Siel sold 1,003units.

Ford India, which recently launched a mid-sized car Ikon, posted a 63 percent growth in sales at 4,523 units during the period from 2,776 units inthe comparable period a year ago.

Commercial vehicles segment also witnessed a growth with sales of 85,630units during April to January period as against 58,898 units in 1998-99.Multi-utility vehicles (MUVs) recorded a 4.9 per cent growth in sales duringApril-January of this fiscal as sales were 92,976 units against 88,624 unitsin the same period the previous fiscal.

However, sales of scooters declined by 4.4 per cent to 10.4 lakh units inthe same period from 10.8 lakh units sold in the comparable period theprevious fiscal. Sales of motorcycles jumped by 28.4 per cent to 14.2 lakhin the first 10 months of the current fiscal from 11 lakh bikes sold inApril-January of 1998-99.

Moped sales were also higher at 5.83 lakh during the period as against 5.62lakh vehicles in April-January of 1998-99.

However, three-wheeler sales declined marginally by 1.4 per cent to 1.68lakh units during the reference period against 1.70 lakh units sold in thesame period the previous year.

Insight
average sales slip

The passenger car segment reported phenomenal growth of 56 per cent duringthe period April 1999-January 2000. But a quick glance at the averagemonthly sales reveals an interesting trend. The average monthly car sales of51,940 units during last quarter 1999 is much lower than the average monthlysales of 54,430 units for the period July-December 1999. Moreover, theannouncement related to uniform sales tax adversely effected the salesvolumes during the latter part of January 2000.

Gaurav Dua