 "Car, bike sales jump in July; SIAM predicts a turnaround this year")
New Delhi: Signalling revival in demand,domestic car sales grew for the third month in succession inJuly with a rise of 5.04 per cent, prompting industry bodySIAM to hope for 5-10 per cent increase this fiscal.
According to the data released by Society of IndianAutomobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger car salesstood at 1,37,873 units in July this year as compared to1,31,257 units in the same month of 2013.
“The negative sentiments have gone. People are comingback to showrooms. As the economy revives we are going to seehigher growth in the coming months,” SIAM Director GeneralVishnu Mathur told reporters here.
He added: “With a lot of new models lined up for launchesahead of the festive season, we are hoping that there will beat least single digit growth this year.”
While he declined to give an exact forecast for car salesgrowth, Mathur said: “In the first quarter of this fiscal we have grown by 2.89 per cent. If the trend continues we hopethat we could end the year with a growth of anything between 5and 10 per cent.”
Giving credit to the new government, he said: “The veryfact that there is a stable government at Centre has improvedconsumer sentiment. Besides, the reduced excise duty rates oncars have been extended and also income tax rate has also beenreduced to an extent which has put more money in the pocketsof consumers. All these have helped revive demand to anextent.”
During the month, market leader Maruti Suzuki Indiaposted a growth of 15.45 per cent in domestic sales at 72,782 units as against 63,040 units in the same month last year.
Rival Hyundai Motor India Ltd had a growth of 12 per centat 29,067 units as against 25,939 units in July last year.
Honda Cars India saw its sales jump 10.77 per cent to12,286 units in July from 11,091 units in the year-ago month.
Home-grown Tata Motors posted a decline of 21.56 per centin domestic car sales in July to 6,703 units as compared to8,546 units in the same month last year.
Utility vehicles (UV) major Mahindra & Mahindra saw itsUV sales decline 1.06 per cent to 14,348 units as against 14,503 units last year.
Car sales in India had fallen for the second consecutivefiscal in 2013-14 with a drop of 4.65 per cent as the auto industry continued to struggle with demand slump due to asluggish economy.
In the two-wheeler segment, total sales in July 2014 grew13.73 per cent to 12,87,462 units from 11,32,066 units in thesame period of previous year.
According to SIAM, motorcycle sales during the month grew6.17 per cent to 8,59,290 units from 8,09,386 units in thesame month previous year.
Market leader Hero MotoCorp saw its domestic salesincrease 10.34 per cent to 4,63,869 units as against 4,20,397 units in July last year.Rival Bajaj Auto posted a decline of 18.35 per cent at1,25,053 units as against 1,53,173 units in the year-agomonth.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bikesales grow 5.26 per cent to 1,48,012 units as against 1,40,611units in the same month last year.
In the scooter segment, total sales stood at 3,72,136units as against 2,71,438 units in July last year, up 37.1 per cent.
Market leader HMSI posted a jump of 59.28 per cent in itsscooter sales during the month at 2,15,965 units as comparedto 1,35,584 units in the corresponding month last year.
On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp saw its scooter salesdip 7 per cent to 52,792 units from 56,798 units in July lastyear.
Chennai-based TVS Motor Co saw its scooter sales zoom63.98 per cent to 57,412 units from 35,010 units in the year-ago month.
According to SIAM, the total sales of commercial vehicles(CV) were down by 13.64 per cent to 47,765 units from 55,310units in the year-ago period.
“This is the 15th consecutive month of decline in CVsales. This sector is still a concern but we hope in the next 5-6 months this will also see revival,” Mathur said.
The total sale of vehicles across categories registered agrowth of 12 per cent to 15,86,123 units in July 2014 as against 14,16,182 units in the same month of 2013, it added.
PTI