Automobile industry experts are betting big on the festive season and new launches. They feel that these two factors will help the passenger vehicle segment register a 10-12% growth for the whole of 2008-09. This at a time when several sectors in the industry are feeling the pinch of the global meltdown

?So far there have been no negative signs that could impact sales of automobiles in India. Considering that October is the festival month and the first few days before the financial turmoil has been good, we maintain our double-digit growth projection and expect the passenger vehicle segment to grow by 10-12% in this fiscal,? said Dilip Chenoy, director-general, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).

This double-digit growth projection is despite two consecutive months of decline in passenger car sales during July and August, and a marginal growth of 2.84% in September. 1,08,823 units were sold in September as against 1,05,822 units during the same month in the previous year.

According to Siam, passenger cars constitute over 77% of the total passenger vehicles sold in the country. ?While manufacturers and dealers are working in tandem to offer loans at a lower rate of interest, a further reduction in actual interest rates would further boost the growth of the segment,? said Chenoy.

According to Siam, Maruti Suzuki India, which is a leader in the passenger car segment with a marker share of 48.73%, registered a marginal increase in sales at 56,501 units last month as against 56,322 units during the same month last year.

Hyundai Motor India, the country?s second largest passenger car manufacturer, registered a 23.98% growth at 22,307 units compared to 17,993 units during the same month last year.

However, Tata Motors and General Motors India witnessed a dip in demand despite Tata Motors? launch of Indica Vista and GM India offering Spark at Rs 2.66 lakh. Sales of Tata Motors? passenger cars went down by 3.20% at 13,265 units vis-?-vis 13,704 units last September. General Motors reported a dip of 5.32% at 3,596 units as compared to 3,798 units during September in the previous year.

?There is no doubt that the low penetration level in India will drive the growth of passenger cars in terms of volume. But when it comes to overall sentiments and finance, there could be a slowdown as easy availability of loans is still far to be achieved. Overall the combined effect will be a growth in the range of 8% for this fiscal vis-?-vis over 12% last year,? said Abdul Majeed, auto analyst and partner, Price Waterhouse Coopers. He added that October see a spurt in sales as companies are aggressive on clearing their inventory.

Contrary to a dip in passenger cars sales for some companies, motorcycles continued to maintain their growth momentum with overall sales going up by 15.22% at 6,32,369 units as against 5,48,816 units in the corresponding month a year ago.

Market leader Hero Honda registered a 22.78% jump in sales at 3,65,630 units in September compared to 2,97,792 units in the same month in the previous year. Bajaj Auto, however, witnessed a sales of 1,62,074 units as against 1,66,870 units in the corresponding last year, a dip of 2.87%.