SME Times News Bureau | 02 Apr, 2011
The Indian automobile industry Friday reported good sales numbers for the month of March 2011, prompted by a growing economy, increasing disposable incomes and low interest rates.

Indian car market leader Maruti Suzuki reported a 28.2 percent jump in total sales at 121,952 units during March this year against 95,123 units during the same period of 2010.

In March, the company's sales were driven by its best-selling compact car segment which includes models like Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz. It saw a 43.3 percent rise in sales at 78,460 units against 54,763 units in the same period of 2010.

The company's sedan segment which includes cars like SX4 and Dzire's sales grew by 33.1 percent and stood at 13,910 units as against 10,453 units in March 2010.

The automobile giant has further reported a growth of 24.8 percent in its sales for the complete financial year 2010-11 at 1,271,005 units as against 1,018,365 units during the previous fiscal.

The company's domestic sales in the fiscal grew by 30.1 percent with the sale of 1,132,739 vehicles as compared to the previous financial year. "870,790 units were sold in the domestic market during last fiscal," the company said in a statement.

Auto major Tata Motors Ltd closed March with 11 percent sales growth over the comparable period the previous year.

The company's total sales of commercial and passenger vehicles last month were 83,363 units (domestic 77,431 units, exports 5,932 units) - up from 75,129 units (domestic 71,024 units, exports 4,105 units) sold in March 2010.

The company further reported an increase of 25 percent in its sales for the complete fiscal year 2010-11 with a total sales of 803,322 units up from 642,664 units sold during the previous fiscal.

Tata Motors last fiscal sold 70,432 units of Nano, up from 30,350 units sold the previous fiscal.

Last year, the auto-giant shipped out 58,044 units as against 34,141 units the previous year.

Three Chennai-based automobile majors such as Hyundai, Ford and TVS too came out with good sales number for March.

Automobile major Hyundai Motor reported a marginal increase of one percent in its sales for the month of March, at 55,552 units as against 55,027 units in the like period of 2010.

The company said the sales in March were damp due to rising input costs and increasing interest rates on car loans.

Segment-wise, the automobile major's sales were led by its best-selling compact cars like Santro, i10, and i20 at 50,488 units, followed by the sedan section which includes Accent and Verna at 4,920 units; and luxury sedan Sonata Transform at 23 units.

The Indian subsidiary of the American auto major Ford Motor Company sold 10,485 units in March, up from 9,478 units sold in March 2010.

Ford India will start exports of its compact car Figo to Mexico in April with an initial consignment of 1,000 units. The car has already been exported to South Africa and Nepal.

The Chennai-based two- and three-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company Ltd reported a sales growth of 28 percent in March over the corresponding period the previous year.

The company sold 191,208 units (186,781 two-wheelers, 4,427 three-wheelers) last month - up from 149,194 units (146,763 two-wheelers, 2,431 three-wheelers) sold in March 2010.

For the fiscal 2010-11, TVS Motor sold a total of 2,046,668 units (2,006,808 two-wheelers, 39,860 three-wheelers) as against 1,536,919 units (1,521,939 two-wheelers, 14,980 three-wheelers) the previous fiscal.

In the domestic market, the company sold 162,791 two-wheelers last month - up from 126,696 units sold in March 2010.

TVS Motor shipped out 26,979 units (24,062 two-wheelers, 2,917 three-wheelers) last month as against 20,585 units (20,067 two-wheelers, 518 three-wheelers) during March 2010.

Meanwhile, the biggest sales growth came from two-wheeler major Hero Honda Motors Ltd, which said that it has recorded 17 percent growth in sales for fiscal 2010-11, which stood at 5 million-plus units as compared 4,600,130 units in last fiscal.

"Hero Honda initiated strategic and structural changes this fiscal, which will begin to take effect in the near future," said Pawan Munjal, managing director and chief executive, Hero Honda Motors Ltd.

The company reported an increase of more than 24 percent in March with sales of 515,852 units as against 414,638 units in the same period of 2010.