June car sales up, bikes down

The passenger vehicles industry continued on a growth path in June this year with 94,002 units being sold during the month compared to 80,784 units in the corresponding month in 2006, a growth of 16.36 per cent.

However, the motorcycles segment which had been the main driver of the two-wheeler industry for the past five year, saw a drop in sales by 17.17 per cent with 4,37,776 units sold in June, 2007 against 5,28,499 last June.

The cumulative growth of the passenger vehicles segment sales in the first quarter of the current financial year was 12.99 per cent with 3,48,832 units compared to 3,08,727 units in April-June 2006. Passenger cars grew by 12.67 per cent, utility vehicles by 10.95 per cent and multi-purpose vehicles by 23.49 in April-June 2007 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

The car industry has been able to post growth in the first quarter of the current financial year largely on account of heavy discounts offered by car manufacturers through cheap interest loans. Maruti Udyog reported a 26.73 per cent increase in sales. Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors, however, dipped 3.95 per cent and 7.09 per cent respectively.

On the motorcycles front, market leader Hero Honda posted a decline of 8.95 per cent as compared to a whopping 22.35 per cent by Bajaj Auto. TVS fared even worse, with sales down down 39.59 per cent, SIAM said.

The commercial vehicles segment grew by 3.8 per cent in the quarter YoY, and three-wheelers sales by 6.02 per cent during the same period.