Tata Motors Jan sales down 33 pc at 36,931 units

Tata Motors on Monday said its total sales declined by 33 per cent to 36,931 units in January 2009 from 54,796 units in the same month last year.

The company sold 17,373 commercial vehicles in the domestic market during the month, down by 43 per cent compared to 30,530 vehicles sold in January last year.

Its domestic sales of passenger vehicles stood at 18,331 units in January 2009, nine per cent lower than 20,119 units sold in the same month last year, the company said in a statement.

The company exported 1,227 vehicles in the month, down 70 per cent compared to 4,147 vehicles in January 2008.

In the passenger vehicles segment, sales of Indica range stood at 11,433 units, about eight per cent lower than January 2008. The Sumo and Safari accounted for sales of 2,925 units, 40 per cent lower than the year-ago period.

However, the Indigo range sales grew by 37 per cent to 3,973 units.

'Faint signals of the impact of the financial stimulus announced by the government, particularly for commercial vehicles, is being noticed. However, the automobile market continues to be under the grip of a credit squeeze and high interest rates,' the company said.

The auto maker has started distributing the Fiat Linea through the joint Tata-Fiat dealerships. It sells Linea along with the Fiat Palio and the Fiat 500.