Led by robust growth in compact car sales, the passenger car market grew 21.95 per cent to 412,648 units in the first four months of this financial year from 338,388 units in the same period last year.
Analysts attribute the growth to the 8 per cent excise duty cut on small cars in the budget, high economic growth, rising disposable incomes and a cyclical upsurge in demand after a single-digit growth last year.
Hardening of interest rates as well as rise in input costs, however, are a source of concern for the industry, they added.
Car sales witnessed two consecutive months of high demand with 28.4 per cent rise at 81,038 units, while a rare blip in sales of Hero Honda saw motorcycles witness a modest growth of 13.3 per cent.
According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, as many as 10 of the 11 car makers, including Maruti Udyog, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Ford and General Motors, registered a healthy growth in demand.
Toyota Kirloskar was the sole car company that saw numbers fall as sales stood at 509 units in July against 549 units in the same month last year.
Car sales in the first four months of the year grew 24.8 per cent at 3,24,671 units against 2,60,025 units in April-July 2005, SIAM said.
On the two-wheeler front, motorcycles continued their healthy run despite a marginal two per cent decline in numbers of segment leader Hero Honda where sales fell to 2,18,515 units against 2,23,150 units in July 2005.
Propped up by Bajaj Auto, TVS Motors and Yamaha India, bike sales were up 13.3 per cent in July at 4,53,152 units against 3,99,778 units in the same month last year.
Overall bike sales in April-July 2006 period grew 20.5 per cent 20,61,972 units against 17,10,266 units in the same period last fiscal, SIAM said.
On the scooter/scooterettee side, a near four-fold rise in sales of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India saw numbers go up by 37.5 per cent in July at 76,495 units against 55,627 units in the same month last year.
Overall two-wheeler sales in the month, comprising mopeds, scooters and bikes, were up 15.3 per cent at 5,57,466 units against 4,83,089 units in July 2005.
On the commercial vehicles side, sales were up 37 per cent in the domestic market in July at 32,647 units against 23,827 units in the same month last year.
This was boosted by higher numbers of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, the segment heavyweights. In the medium- and heavy-commercial vehicles segment segment, sales were up 41 per cent 19,144 units against 13,566 units as goods carriers saw a healthy growth in demand.
On the light commercial vehicles side, the numbers were up 31.5 per cent at 13,503 units with Tata Motors dominating the segment.
Commercial vehicle sales in the first four months was up 40.7 per cent at 1,28,516 units against 91,032 units in the same period in 2005-06, SIAM said.
On the three-wheeler side, sales were up 19.2 per cent in July in the domestic market at 34,587 units against 28,902 units in the same month last year.
While sales in the passenger carriers segment were up eight per cent at 20,288 units, goods carrier numbers were up 40 per cent at 14,299 units.
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