Car sales in May rise for seventh straight month, but two-wheelers hit bumpy ride

New Delhi: Car sales in India grew for the seventh month in a row in May, rising 7.73 percent even as the auto industry stayed in the slow lane on the path to recovery. Declining motorcycle sales remained a cause of worry. According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger car sales in May this year stood at 1,60,067 units against 1,48,577 units in the year-ago month. “Currently, we are in a slow recovery mode, with some segments showing growth and some declining. Even those segments like cars, which have shown growth, haven’t reached peak levels,” said SIAM director general Vishnu Mathur. He said falling sales of motorcycles and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) showed that not all is well with the rural economy. [caption id=“attachment_2288746” align=“alignleft” width=“300”]  Reuters[/caption] Motorcycle sales last month slid 3.04 percent to 9,53,322 units, from 9,83,210 units in May last year, while those of LCVs were down 7.19 percent at 28,226 units against 30,414 units a year ago. “For LCVs, barring an increase in September 2014, the segment has been witnessing decline for the past 25 months,” Mathur said. But he struck an optimistic tone, saying that with consumer sentiment improving, demand in the car segment is likely to gain traction as banks start to pass on rate cut benefits to consumers. In May, market leader Maruti Suzuki India saw its sales grow 14.29 percent to 85,190 units against 74,536 units in the year-ago period. Likewise, Hyundai Motor India posted a growth of 3.8 percent at 37,328 units compared with 35,955 units in May last year. Honda Cars India, however, had a decline of 8.78 percent at 12,134 units against 13,303 units a year ago. In the case of Tata Motors, sales rose 32.37 percent to 9,176 units against 6,932 units in the same month last year while those of Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 4.77 percent at 16,980 units compared with 17,831 units last year. Mathur said the auto industry is hopeful of a better monsoon this year based on forecast by SkyMet, which SIAM tracks. In May, total vehicle sales across categories registered a decline of 0.58 percent to 16,83,962 units, from 16,93,740 units in May 2014, SIAM said. According to SIAM, total two-wheeler sales in May declined 1.25 percent to 13,80,950 units mainly due to a dip in motorcycle sales and also moderation in sales of scooters. During the month, motorcycle market leader Hero MotoCorp saw its sales decline by 3.04 percent to 5,09,427 units as against 5,25,449 units in May last year. Rival Bajaj Auto also saw its bike sales drop by 3.18 percent to 1,70,668 units compared with 1,76,277 units in the corresponding month last year, while that of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) also declined by 9.53 percent to 1,38,150 units as against 1,52,714 units in May 2014. According to SIAM, scooter sales in May this year grew by 2.61 percent at 3,64,073 units as against 3,54,808 units in the same month last year. PTI