Auto car sales zoom 36.5% in Dec, truck, bus, 2-wheelers soar

Domestic car sales rose by 36.5 per cent in December. Cumulative (April-December 2003) sales jumped by 26.8 per cent to 4,84,029 cars from 3,81,462 cars sold a year ago, data by the society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) showed. Sale of commercial vehicles surged by 46.6 per cent in December 2003 to 24,526 units from 16,731 units a year ago. Cumulative sales rose by 36.2 per cent year-on-year to 1,78,128 units from 1,30,747 units, the data showed. In the utility-vehicle segment, sales grew by 27.2 per cent to 10,833 units in December 2003, while cumulative (April-December 2003) sales surged to 99,785 units.

Two-wheeler sales slowed down and grew by a marginal 1.8 per cent to 3,90,280 units during the month while cumulative sales stood higher by 8.5 per cent to 3.97 million units. Sale of scooters and scooterettes went up by 4 per cent to 65,004 units in December, while cumulative sales were at 6,60,319 units.

Mopeds, however, suffered a 17.8 per cent drop to 22,241 units while cumulative sales slipped by 13 per cent to 2,27,490 units. Sale of multi-purpose-vehicles increased by 17.5 per cent in December to 4,323 units, while cumulative sales grew by 15.4 per cent to 42,696 units. In the three-wheeler segment, sales rose by 20 per cent to 23,257 units. Cumulative sales in this segment went up by 12.6 per cent to 1,92,693 units.

In the commercial vehicle segment, sale of medium and heavy (M&H) trucks and buses surged by 49.6 per cent to 16,008 units during the review month.