Despite improvement, depression at motown continued as the festive season failed to bail the auto industry out of the year-long decline. Though purchases picked up in October, it was not enough to curb the impact of high interest rates completely as sales declined by 0.65 per cent at 10,10,963 units, against 10,17,611 units in the same month last year. While passenger-car segment provided signs of an imminent turnaround, motorcycles and commercial vehicles continued to struggle, as all the major manufacturers underperformed in the market. Domestic passenger car sales in October was up 14.60 per cent at 1,05,878 units, compared with 92,389 units in October 2006. The motorcycle sales, however, continued to be in the red, posting a decline of 6.74 per cent at 6,57,874 units, against 7,05,467 units in the same month of the last year.On the back of heavy discounts for the festive season, Maruti Suzuki India posted double digit growth of 16.12 per cent at 55,731 units in October against 47,994 units in the same month in 2006. General Motors India also posted close to a four-fold jump in sales at 4,370 units against 1,142 units in the same period previous year. Growth in some other companies was still subdued, indicating that the impact of interest rates has not been nullified completely. Tata Motors registered 10.14 per cent growth at 14,011 units, against 12,720 units in the same month a year ago but second placed Hyundai Motor India clocked a marginal decline at 18,197 units against 18,563 units last year. In the two-wheeler segment, market leader Hero Honda Motor (HHML) showed a marginal increase in sales during October at 3,47,216 units against 3,45,319 units last year. Performance of other companies was worse with Bajaj Auto registering a drop of 8.33 per cent despite launching the 125cc XCD. Third-placed TVS Motor continued its dismal performance with a massive 32.64 per cent decline at 58,594 units against 86,990 units last year.The bad performance of motorcycles ensured that overall two-wheeler sales in October was also down by 3.73 per cent at 7,93,420 units compared with 8,24,182 units in October a year ago. This is despite the scooters segment posting a healthy 16.61 per cent growth at 98,752 units against 84,680 units last year.Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India sold 53,109 units of scooters in October against 43,957 units in the corresponding month a year ago, up 20.82 per cent. HHML also showed improvement in scooter sales at 12,099 units against 11,088 units in the previous year. Three wheeler sales during the month was down marginally at 35,394 units compared to 35,773 units last year, SIAM said.
