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Driven by Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors, car sales soared 24.1 per cent in September 2004 for the sixth consecutive month, raising hopes of good second quarter profit for automakers.
A total of 70,492 units were sold in the month under review over 56,765 cars in September 2003, data released on Wednesday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed.
Car sales during the first six months of this fiscal surged by 20.7 per cent at 3.85 lakh units over 3.19 lakh units during April-September 2003.
Bus and truck sales went up 18 per cent at 27,766 units in September 2004 against 23,527 units in the same month last year.
Cumulative (April-September 2004) sales of commercial vehicles jumped 28.5 per cent at 1.40 lakh units over 1.09 lakh units during the year-ago period.
Two-wheeler sales rode northward by posting a rise of 13 per cent at 5.44 lakh units in the month under consideration over 4.81 lakh units.
During the first half of this fiscal, two-wheeler sales went up by 13.1 per cent at 28.7 lakh units (25.4 lakh units during April-September 2003).
Three-wheeler sales grew by 3.62 per cent at 27,533 units in September 2004.
Utility vehicles (UVs) sales moved up by 21 per cent at 15,566 units in Sepember 2004 (12,864 units).
Sales of multi purpose vehicles (MPVs) also jumped 8.47 per cent at 5,634 units. The Indian car market has been on an overdrive due to a an array of new models, easy availability of low interest loans and higher disposable income.
Continuing the trend, the sector is poised to register robust growth this fiscal also with automakers posting decent numbers during the first half of 2004-05.
Car sales of Maruti Udyog grew 28 per cent at 34,572 units in September this year while its arch rival Hyundai Motor India registered a rise of 6.87 per cent at 11,703 units.
Indigenous carmaker Tata Motors posted a jump of 30.6 per cent at 13,074 units.
Sales of Honda Siel Cars India grew by a massive 284 per cent at 3,203 units.
Indian unit of second-biggest US carmaker Ford Motor India clocked a rise of 17 per cent at 2,374 units, while the local subsidiary of the world's biggest carmaker General Motors India posted a dip of 8.13 per cent at 1,830 units.
Sales of Toyota Kirloskar Motor drove up by 14.7 per cent at 1,063 units while that of luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler by 9.80 per cent at 224 units. Fiat India suffered a loss of 50.2 per cent at 574 units.
In the UV category, sales of Mahindra and Mahindra witnessed a rise of 18 per cent at 7,198 units, while that of Tata Motors declined 4.83 per cent at 2,852 units.
UV sales of Toyota went up by 30.5 per cent at 3,143 units while General Motors India sold 1,377 UVs. Maruti sold 65.3 per cent less UVs at 116 units.
In the commercial vehicle segment, sales of medium and heavy (M&H) buses and trucks grew by 22.8 per cent at 17,824 units, while that of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) by 10.1 per cent at 9,942 units.
In the M&H category, truck sales jumped 25 per cent at 15,488 units as Tata Motors posted a rise of 29.7 per cent at 10,827 units.
M&H bus sales also grew by 10 per cent at 2,336 units as sales of Tata Motors rose 21.5 per cent at 1,184 units. Sales of light trucks grew 14.1 per cent at 8,421 units while that of light buses declined by 7.59 per cent at 1,521 units.
Light truck sales of Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra went up by 6.72 and 29.1 per cent at 4,429 and 3,078 units, respectively.
Light bus sales of Tata Motors jumped 13.4 per cent at 740 units but that of Bajaj Tempo dived 55.1 per cent at 204 units.
Commercial vehicle sales have been soaring since over the last one year. Last year, the segment clocked a 30 per cent rise, while this year it is likely to grow over 10 per cent, primarily due to rise in diesel prices, analysts pointed out.
The bus and truck category will again go on an overdrive in 2005 when new, stringent emission norms come into force.
Last year's stupendous growth came from a rev up in infrastructure activities and a number of highway development projects, including Golden Quadrilateral. With the development of highways, sales of trucks with high tonnage capacity are likely to go up.
The focus would be on heavy and light vehicles rather than medium commercial vehicles, they said.
In the motorcycle and step-thru segment, market leader Hero Honda posted a 36.5 per cent rise at 212,000 units while its arch rival Bajaj Auto registered a jump of 30 per cent at 119,000 units.
Sales of TVS Motor Co, however, decelerated 10.7 per cent at 56,316 units while sales of Yamaha Motor India dived 41.2 per cent at 20,379 units.
Sales of Kinetic Engineering skidded 31.6 per cent at 4,539 units and that of LML nose-dived by 35.6 per cent at 10,043 units.
Majestic Auto posted a 53.6 per cent dip at 368 units, while Royal Enfield registered a rise of 11 per cent at 2,200 units.
In the scooter and scooterette segment, Honda Motorcycle Scooter India posted a whopping 51.8 per cent growth at 40,655 units while sales of Bajaj Auto plummeted 46.4 per cent at 12,253 units.
Sales of TVS grew 29.2 per cent at 23,057 units. Kinetic Engineering posted a decline of 16.7 per cent at 3,366 units while sales of its sister company Kinetic Motor went down by 16.2 per cent at 7,109 units.
LML also registered a decline of 30.4 per cent at 2,065 units.
Moped sales of Majestic, Kinetic and TVS declined by 6.88, 3.40 and 1.42 per cent at 3,261, 2,126 and 22,145 units, respectively.
In the three-wheeler category, sales of goods carriers grew by 12.6 per cent at 11,383 units while that of passenger carriers fell by 1.92 per cent at 16,150 units.