Price cuts see car sales surge 40 pc

Ind Auto Limited sales grew by 68.9 per cent during the period at 4,091 units from 2,421 units while Maruti’s passenger car sales surged ahead at 41.7 per cent at 81,988 units from 57,855 units in Q4 of 1998.

Honda Siel cars registered a 48.4 per cent surge in sales of Honda City cars at 2,713 units from 1,828 units in the previous quarter, according to theestimates.

Hindustan Motors and Hyundai Motors also recorded a growth in sales during the period. HM’s passenger car sales grew ten per cent while Hyundai’s Santro sales grew by 8.9 per cent at 3,232 cars and 9,199 units, respectively.

Telco saw a major drop in sales of its Sierra and Estate passenger vehicles during the period. Retails dropped by 57.2 per cent at 100 units from 234 units in the previous quarter. However, during the last two months of Q1, the company sold 2,100 units of its much-hyped Indica.

General Motors India Limited witnessed a 13.4 per cent drop in sales at 723 units from 835 units while Ford India Limited sales dropped 12.3 per cent at 587 units from 670 units. Daewoo Motors India Limited, despite launch of the small car Matiz, saw a 12.1 per cent drop in sales during the first quarter at 2,798 units from 3,184 units in the previous quarter.

The sales of the utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd have gone down by seven per cent in 1998-99, according to company vicechairman Anand Mahindra. However, the last three months showed buoyancy and the company made record sales in March, Mahindra said today.

He attributed the sales downturn to the general recessive conditions prevailing in the economy, but said, "going by the trend in February and March, we expect a better performance this year".

During 1997-98, the company reported sales of 75,000 vehicles (excluding tractors), he said. In the automobile sector, M&M is not the only one to be affected by recession. Maruti Udyog Ltd had also reported a decrease of 22 per cent in its sales last year.

Meanwhile, M&M is planning to launch its four-wheel drive sports utility vehicle in a month’s time, Mahindra said. conceived as an image builder, the vehicle is meant to further strengthen the brand in the customers’ minds.

With that intention, only limited editions of the vehicle would be produced and sold, Mahindra said, adding that it would be available only on order. While the price of the vehicle was not yet fixed,company officials said it would have a base price of Rs five lakh. “Considering the purpose of the vehicle’s launch, the concept of break-even is not applicable to it,” Mahindra said.

It has the facility of being customised depending on the customer’s requirements, Mahindra said adding that the vehicle would also be on the internet through which it could be customised and accordingly assembled.

Code-named Project X, Mahindras were yet name the vehicle, he said adding that the company is running a contest at the ongoing auto show in the city where participants can suggest a suitable brand name for the vehicle.

The vehicle would be launched in Mumbai and other select cities, he said.

M&M plans battery-operated 3-wheeler

MUMBAI: Mahindra & Mahindra will soon be coming out with a battery operated three-wheeler `Bijlee’. M&M is also working on a diesel variant of the three wheeler which would be compatible with the Euro pollution norms which come into effect from April 1, 2000.

It has alreadystarted exporting the three wheeler to Nepal as their pollution norms are even more stringent than ours. The first batch of vehicles has already gone. The company is already doing a pilot test in Delhi. The vehicle is not expected to be seen on the Mumbai roads in the very near future. The strategy of the company is to target pockets of pollution in Delhi first and then in other cities where stringent pollution control is being enforced.