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Domestic passenger vehicle sales for December 2009 grew 49 per cent to 119,930 units. This is the second highest sales notched by the auto industry in the current financial year, with November sales being the highest at 66.54 per cent.
Passenger vehicle sales have seen a double-digit growth rate since July 2009. In the last three months alone, sales grew at a far higher rate on the back of a low base in the previous year when car sales grew by just 0.13 per cent.
The country's largest manufacturer of passenger vehicles, Maruti Suzuki, sold 84,804 units in December 2009 - 51 per cent higher than the sales posted in December 2008. Domestic sales last month stood at 71,000 units, which is a rise of 36.5 per cent against the same month in 2008.
"Excise duty cuts, attractive vehicle loans made possible by PSU banks and improving sentiments have helped the whole industry to post good sales numbers for December 2009," says Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager (marketing) at Maruti Suzuki.
Exports for the company during the Christmas month stood at 13,804 units - an impressive growth rate of 224 per cent against the 4,264 units sold abroad in December 2008. "Sales numbers are wholesale (sold to dealers) and do not represent actual retail (customer) sales. However, we see good demand for our fifth strategic car model A-Star across Europe due to its attractive positioning and emission compliances," adds Srivastava.
Cumulative December car sales for Hyundai grew 23 per cent to 47,217 units. The manufacturer of the successful i10 and i20 models sold a total 22,252 units in the domestic market - a year-on-year rise of 43 per cent.
However, exports for the company moderated to 24,965 units, which is growth of 9 per cent. Last year was a high base in exports for the company.
Cumulative domestic sales in December 2009 for Mahindra & Mahindra grew by a whopping 120 per cent. The company sold 16,999 units of utility vehicles, comprising the Xylo, Scorpio and the Bolero, last month.
On the back of a brisk demand for the Skoda Superb in the premium segment and the Laura in the executive segment, December 2009 sales for Skoda stood at 1,113 units - a 52 per cent rise over the previous year.
General Motors, the manufacturer of the Chevrolet-badged vehicles, sold a record 8,258 vehicles in December last year, representing a robust 101 per cent rise in sales against the numbers achieved in December 2008.
General Motors says this is the highest ever sales numbers achieved in the history of the company's operations in the country. The Cruze (executive segment), the Chevrolet Beat (to be launched on January 4 but already dispatched to dealers) and the Spark have contributed to this sales achievement.
December sales for Mahindra Renault rose by 13 per cent to 308 units. This is for the first time in the current financial year that the company's monthly sales turned positive.
