The company, however, said its overall sales increased by two per cent in February 2005 on the back of a surge in exports.

B V R Subhu, HMIL president said the company was considering revising the price of Elantra and Sonata downwards in the wake of customs duty cut announced in the budget.

"We are studying the impact these cuts (customs duty) on prices of relatively high import intensity models like Elantra and Sonata, and will pass on the prime benefits to our customers in the next few days," he said.

The Indian subsidiary of Korean auto major Hyundai Motor Company sold a total of 9,522 units in February 2005 as against sales of 11,590 units in the domestic market during the same period of the previous year, registering a drop of 17.84 per cent.

Of the total domestic sales, compact car Santro accounted for 5,881 units, Getz sold 1,166 units, Accent 2,235 units, Elantra 183 units and Sonata 53 units, HMIL said.

Commenting on the sluggish sales during the last month, he said, "The auto industry overall witnessed a slowdown in February because customers deferred purchase of cars expecting post-budget fall in prices."

Skoda to be cheaper by Rs 50,000

SkodaAuto India, a fully owned subsidiary of Czech company SkodaAuto, on Thursday announced price cuts up to Rs 50,000 on its various car models following reduction in peak rate customs duty to 15 per cent in the Budget.

The price changes would come into effect from Thursday, a company release said.
"Having analysed the fine print of budget, the company has decided to pass on as benefit to the customers of up to Rs 50,000," Skoda Auto managing director Imran Hassen said.

SkodaAuto Infdia sells Octavia and Superb models in India. In February, the company sold 306 units of its cars. It sold 15 units of Skoda Superb in the same month.

SkodaAuto has been operating in the country since 2001 as a subsidiary of Volkswagenb Group comoany SKodaAuto. It has manufacturing facility in Shendra near Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

The company now has eight luxury models in the country; the top end SkodaL&K, SkodaElegance, SkodaAutomatic, SkodaAmbient e, SkodaROIder, SkodaRS, SkodaSuperb and SkodaRider 1.8 turbo.