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NEW DELHI, Nov. 18

CARMAKERS, Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motor and Tata Engineering, notched up impressive sales in festive October, boosting domestic car sales by 34 per cent for the month, latest data showed.

Total car sales in October stood at 45,317 units as compared to 33,871 units in the same period a year ago, registering healthy growth for the fifth consecutive month, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Monday.

Cumulative sales of cars during April-October this year grew by 7.6 per cent to 3.03 lakh units over 2.82 lakh a year ago, SIAM said.

Market leader, Maruti Udyog, saw its sales in October zooming by 47.3 per cent to 23,011 units while its archrival, Hyundai Motor, clocked a 31 per cent growth by selling 9,250 units over the same month last year. Tata Engineering sold 7,192 units of its Indica, up by 35 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

While sales of Ford India went up by 56 per cent in the month to 1,252 units, fellow American auto giant, General Motors, suffered a marginal 1.6 per cent fall in sales during the month, selling 590 cars, SIAM said.

Fiat India and Hindustan Motors too saw sales going down by 32.7 per cent and 16.4 per cent respectively during the month. Toyota Kirloskar, which launched the Camry in the market, sold 111 units of the luxury sedan.

Commercial trucks, utility vehicles and two wheelers also posted good growth rates in October, SIAM data said.

Total commercial vehicle sales rose by 39 per cent to 16,755 units, while utility vehicles' sales grew by 15 per cent to 9,730 units, benefiting Tata Engineering, Ashok Leyland and Mahindra and Mahindra.

Two wheeler sales surged by 18 per cent to 4.75 lakh units in the month, aided by robust growth by TVS Motor Company, Hero Honda and Honda Motorcycles and Scooters.

In the motorcycle/step-through segment, Hero Honda sold 1.6 lakh vehicles in the month, followed by Bajaj Auto with sales of 83,013 vehicles. TVS Motor sold 66,179 units.

A major gainer was LML Ltd, which sold 14,258 vehicles in the month as against 4,063 units in the same month last year. Yamaha Motor India too improved its sales to 32,792 units from 26,570 units last year.

Amongst the two-wheeler segment, sales of scooters and scooterettes fell by 4.1 per cent in the month to 79,132 units as against 82,539 units in October last year.

However, Honda Motorcycles and Scooters bucked the trend to more than double its sales to 11,975 units from 5,454 units in the same month last year, SIAM said.

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