The Hindu Business Line : Duty cut on small cars boosts sales

Car sales in April stood at 74,536 units against 63,932 units in the corresponding period last year as nine of the 11 companies, including Maruti Udyog, Hyundai, Ford, General Motors and Honda, saw a growth in demand following the 8 per cent excise duty cut on small cars in the Union Budget, figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) show.

Healthy demand for bikes

On the two-wheeler side, motorcycles continued their strong run as sales were up nearly 17 per cent at 5,12,381 units against 4,38,325 units in April 2005. Segment leaders Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto led the charge, while others like TVS Motors and Yamaha also saw numbers rise. The last month also saw new entrant Suzuki sell 3,675 units.

Even as bikes maintained the healthy demand, scooter/scooterettee growth witnessed a 16.1 per cent decline. Sales stood at 65,679 units in April against 78,313 units in the corresponding period last year, SIAM said.

Commercial vehicles sales, meanwhile, saw a spurt in growth with sales growing by 68.5 per cent in April at 28,475 units against 16,890 units in the corresponding period last year.

Medium and heavy goods carriers spurred the demand as sales in the segment grew a whopping 85.9 per cent at 16,194 units against 8,709 units in April 2005.

On the light commercial vehicles (LCVs) side, sales grew by 48.4 per cent at 10,854 units from 7,313 units in April 2005. The Tata sub one-tonne mini truck `Ace' clearly created the demand as the company sold a total of 6,683 units (2,397 units) at a growth of 178 per cent.

Three-wheelers also saw healthy growth in demand as sales saw a 21.8 per cent rise at 26,595 units against 21,827 units in April last year. While sales of passenger carriers moved up by 22.7 per cent at 15,300 units, numbers of goods carriers saw 20.5 per cent growth at 11,295 units, SIAM said.

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