No festive cheer for auto cos except Maruti,M038;M

Owing to a low base effect its plant remained shut due to labour troubles at Manesar last year,Maruti reported an overall positive performance from its recently launched Ertiga. A 24.26 per cent jump in the sales of Swift DZire helped the company post higher sales for September. Overall,Maruti Suzuki clocked sales of 88,801 units in September compared to 78,816 units sold in the year-ago period.

Most buyers have postponed their purchases to navratras which begin in the second week of October and we are expecting a spurt in sales then, director general of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers SIAM,Vishnu Mathur,said.

Meanwhile,Mamp;M not only bucked the industry trend,but in the process displaced Tata Motors as the third largest carmaker in the country in September. According to the monthly sales data released by car companies,Mamp;M raced past Tata Motors by 2,156 units as it sold 23,808 units compared to 21,652 units of Tata Motors. It had first outpaced Tata motors in June this year as well.

Hyundai posted a record fall of 14.2 per cent in the monthly sales,General Motors reported 26.78 per cent decline in its sales for the month at 7,403 units. Toyota Kirloskar Motors sales dropped by 5 per cent to 12,115 units from 12,807 units in the same month last year.