Passenger car sales rise
Passenger vehicle sales in India rose by 7.77 per cent in February, driven by strong offtake of utility vehicles.
According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales rose to 2,75,329 units in February from 2,55,470 units a year ago.
Vehicle sales across categories registered a rise of 22.77 per cent to 21,11,383 units, from 17,19,806 units in February 2017.Domestic car sales were up 3.7 per cent to 1,79,122 units last month as against 1,72,737 units a year ago.
"All segments including PVs and two-wheelers have been growing. The only exception is heavy buses, which is a major concern for us," SIAM Director General Vinod Mathur said.
Utility vehicle (UV) sales grew by 21.82 per cent to 80,254 units, as against 65,877 units a year ago.
Mathur said PVs would be able to achieve high single digit growth -- around 9 per cent during the current fiscal, while other segments including two wheelers and commercial vehicles would close the financial year even better than the numbers estimated earlier.
In the April-February period of the current fiscal, ending this month, PV sales have grown by 8.04 per cent, commercial vehicles by 19.3 per cent, three-wheelers by 19.11 per cent and two-wheelers by 14.47 per cent.
SIAM had earlier predicted PVs to grow by 9 per cent, CVs by 13 per cent, three wheelers by 7 per cent and two wheelers by 12 per cent.
"In the two-wheeler segment, with motorcycles doing well, we except the production to touch 23 million and sales crossing 20 million this fiscal for the first time," SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen said. On commercial vehicles, the sales next fiscal are expected to be in the range of 30-40 per cent.
On automobile exports, Mathur said the sector continued to be impacted as various companies have been stressed due to lack of GST refund.
In February, market leader Maruti Suzuki India posted a growth of 13.31 per cent in its domestic PV sales at 1,36,648 units. Rival Hyundai Motor India saw a growth of 5.15 per cent at 44,505 units.