NEW DELHI, July 26: The commercial vehicle segment has registered an impressive 24 per cent growth during the first quarter of the current financial year whereas two-wheeled scooters - especially those manufactured by Bajaj Auto and LML Ltd - performed poorly in the first quarter. The scooter segment saw a drop in sales of 11 per cent.The heavy and medium commercial vehicle (HCV and MCV) segment performed even better - registering a 44 per cent increase over the same period last year. According to the figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), a total of 19,397 units of medium and heavy trucks were sold in the first quarter, as compared to 13,470 units a year earlier. Compared to this, LCV sales went up by a mere 2 per cent during the same period.SIAM has not provided data for passenger cars since the market leader - Maruti Udyog Ltd - and some other players have not furnished their vehicle sales figures.Telco and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) bagged a large chunk of theshare in the commercial vehicle segment - their sales went up sharply by 54 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively. Telco sold 12,684 and M&M sold 1,473 units, respectively, during the first quarter, as against 8,240 units and 1,079 units sold in the same period last year.In the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment, sales of Ashok Leyland was up by 31 per cent to 6,665 units from 5,098 units a year ago. Eicher Motors registered a 20 per cent growth in April-June period of the current financial year as the total sales of the company was 1,174 units, as compared to 982 units in the corresponding period last year.Two-wheeler sales increased by 6.8 per cent, while three-wheelers witnessed a 1.4 per cent increase in sales. A total of 44,320 three-wheelers were sold in the first quarter, as against 43,669 units sold in the corresponding period last year. The sales of Bajaj Tempo increased by 43 per cent to 3,775 units from 2,647 units sold in April-June 1998-99.Sales of Bajaj scooters declined by20 per cent to 1,30,32 units in the first quarter of 1999-2000 against 1,63,119 units sold in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. LML Ltd and Maharashtra Scooters also saw a drop in sales of 14 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, during the first quarter of the current fiscal as their scooter sales declined to 74,124 units and 38,176 units, respectively, as compared to 86,584 and 47,581 units sold in the same period a year ago.Despite an 11-per cent drop in sales witnessed by the scooter segment, sales of TVS Suzuki jumped sharply by 48 per cent to 28,829 units in April-June of the fiscal.
