The Hindu : Business : Car sales up 32 p.c. in April

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 15, 2004

Business

Business

Car sales up 32 p.c. in April

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 14. With Maruti and Tata Motors leading the charge, car sales surged by a robust 32.4 per cent as a total of 56,272 units were sold in the first month of this fiscal against 42,499 units sold in the same month last year.

The data compiled by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and released today also reveal that commercial vehicle sales, regarded as one of the yardsticks to gauge the economic growth, went up by an impressive 66.8 per cent to 19,784 units in the review month from 11,855 units in April 2003.

Two-wheeler sales in the domestic market, the second-biggest after China, grew by 16.4 per cent to 4.41 lakh units as motorcycles and step-throughs posted a rise of 14.5 per cent to 3.48 lakh units. Scooter and scooterette sales registered a hefty growth of 28.3 per cent at 71,306 units.

So far as utility vehicle sales are concerned, the growth was of the order of 45.2 per cent at 12,372 units. Multi purpose vehicles (MPVs) rose 21.4 per cent at 4,828 units.

Three-wheeler sales climbed 46.7 per cent to 18,347 units. Car sales in the country have been soaring with readily available low-interest loans, rise in disposable income and launch of an array of models. India witnessed a car boom during 2003-04 with sales, including exports, crossing the one million mark.

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