The domestic car sales rose by 36.5 per cent in December as nine out of 11 carmakers recorded more demand due to lower prices after a budgetary cut in excise, cheap finance schemes and announcements of price hike in January.

Total sales rose to 50,189 units from 36,761 units in the same month last year.

Cumulative (April-December 2003) sales jumped by 26.8 per cent to 484,029 cars from 381,462 cars sold a year ago, according to the data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Sale of commercial vehicles surged by 46.6 per cent in December to 24,526 units from 16,731 units a year ago.

Cumulative sales in this segment rose by 36.2 per cent year-on-year to 178,128 units from 130,747 units, the data showed.

Maruti and Tata Motors have raised prices this month citing higher input costs, while Ford and General Motors have announced similar plans.

In the utility-vehicle segment, sales grew by 27.2 per cent to 10,833 units in December 2003 while cumulative (April-December 2003) sales surged by 29 per cent to 99,785 units.

Two-wheeler sales, however, slowed down and grew by a marginal 1.8 per cent to 390,280 units during the month while cumulative sales stood higher by 8.5 per cent to 3.97 million units.

This was due to a modest 3.2 per cent growth in motorcycle and step-through sales at 303,035 units. Cumulative motorcycle sales climbed 12.1 per cent to 3.08 million units.

Sale of scooters and scooterettes went up by four per cent to 65,004 units in December while cumulative sales were two per cent higher at 660,319 units.

Mopeds, however, suffered a 17.8 per cent drop to 22,241 units while cumulative sales slipped by 13 per cent to 227,490 units.

Sale of multi-purpose-vehicles increased by 17.5 per cent in December to 4,323 units while cumulative sales grew by 15.4 per cent to 42,696 units.

In the three-wheeler segment, sales rose by 20 per cent to 23,257 units due to higher demand for both passenger and goods carriers.

Cumulative sales in this segment went up by 12.6 per cent to 192,693 units.

In the car category, market leader Maruti Udyog clocked a 23.2 per cent growth to 28,892 units while sales of Hyundai Motor also grew by 23.2 per cent to 6,229 units in December.

Tata Motors' sales surged by 36 per cent to 5,309 units while that of Toyota Kirloskar Motor climbed over 16 times to 864 units.

The local arms of United States-based automakers General Motors and Ford registered 289.6 and 155.1 per cent growth at 1,625 and 2,128 units, respectively.

But, sales of CK Birla group company Hindustan Motors dipped by 17.6 per cent to 1,014 units, while that of Honda Siel Cars soared by 189.4 per cent to 2,706 units.

Luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler's sales slipped by 54.7 per cent to 62 units while the local unit of Czech carmaker Skoda Auto sold 550 units in December.

Fiat India, however, turned the corner and recorded a 7.8 per cent rise to 810 cars.

In the utility-vehicle category, sales of market leader Mahindra and Mahindra grew by 14.7 per cent to 4,912 units.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Tata Motors also clocked rise of 44 and 27.5 per cent to 3,025 and 1,936 units, respectively.

In the commercial vehicle segment, sale of medium and heavy trucks and buses surged by 49.6 per cent to 16,008 units during the review month.