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Journalism of Courage
Car sales in February rose for the first time in four months on the back of successful recent launches and excise duty cuts, but the overall auto sector remained a mixed bag with utility vehicle and commercial vehicle (CV) sales running in the red.
Vikram Kirloskar, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) and vice-chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, said that improving car and two-wheeler sales should act as a catalyst for growth in other sectors as well. He added, “But CVs are on a tough wicket and will not improve unless we see increased goods movement. Many projects are being cleared right now and there have been small improvements in GDP, so it should take about 5-6 months for CV volumes to pick up”.
In February, passenger car sales posted a modest rise of 1.39 per cent (to1.6 lakh units) while utility vehicle sales fell 9 per cent (to 43,507 units), dragging the overall passenger vehicle segment (including cars, utility vehicles and vans) growth down by 3.9 per cent (to 2.17 lakh units). Maruti Suzuki, which has an over 40 per cent share of the PV segment, posted an almost 2 per cent rise in volumes on the back of strong demand for its Celerio small car. Rival Hyundai saw flat sales while Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors recorded 20 per cent and 33 per cent lower volumes, respectively.
“Car sales are up in the month, but we can’t say it is the beginning of a trend just yet. Excise duties are expected to go back to previous levels from July unless the new government continues the incentive, but we hope sales will continue to maintain pace nevertheless,” Vishnu Mathur, director-general of Siam, said.
Two-wheeler volumes in the month were up almost 10 per cent, boosted by a 28 per cent jump in scooter sales at (3.11 lakh units) though bike sales only rose 5.4 per cent (at 8.43 lakh units). CV sales in the month fell a sharp 30 per cent, dragged down by 24 per cent lower sales of medium and heavy CVs (to 16,372 units) and 32.5 per cent fall in light CV demand (to 31,610 units). Tata Motors saw a 42 per cent drop in CV sales while M&M recorded 4 per cent growth.
