Continuing with the revival story, all major auto companies have reported record sales in February, with leading carmakers Maruti and Hyundai reporting highest-ever monthly sales. Maruti Suzuki recorded its highest-ever monthly sales in February at 96,650 units, with domestic sales reaching 84,765 units and exports 11,885 units.
Its closest rival Hyundai Motor India also reported its highest domestic sales ever at 31,001 units, a jump of 46.13 per cent. Its total sales rose by 43 per cent at 54,617 units, with exports touching 23,616 units.
“Sales continue on a strong pitch as we have seen a lot of preponement in buying because of the anticipated rise in excise duty. The excise duty hike announced in the budget is expected to lead to a correction in demand in the short-run,” said HMIL Director (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena.
Similarly, General Motors India registered record sales that grew more than twice at 11,111 units, thanks to good growth in demand for thenewly-launched Beat and Spark. “This is the first time that the company has crossed monthly sales of 10,000 units since inception of the company in India in 1996,” the US-based car major said in a statement.
Interestingly, Toyota might be facing tough times in major global markets. In India, it reported over two-fold jump in sales at 5,990 units.
“Our customers continue to repose faith in Toyota, which is reflected in our increasing month-on-month sales figures,” said Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director (Marketing) of Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
Mahindra & Mahindra also reported an increase of over 35 per cent in its domestic sales at 19,594 units, while its exports jumped over three-folds to 1,314 units. Similarly, Fiat India reported over 78 per cent jump in its total sales at 2,335 units.
In the two-wheeler segment, Hero Honda reported a 16 per cent increase in sales at over 3.82-lakh units in February, while Bajaj Auto saw its sales growing at an impressive 78 per cent at over 2.34-lakh units.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter reported a 22 per cent growth in sales at over 1.22-lakh units, while Yamaha's sales increased by 48 per cent at 25,766 units.
Our Mumbai correspondent writes:
Tata Motors' record sales
In a testimony to the strong recovery under way at Tata Motors, the company has reported a growth of 58 per cent in total sales for the month under reference against the year-ago period.
Total sales (including exports) of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles in February were 69,427 vehicles, a growth of 58 per cent over 43,811 vehicles sold in the year-ago period.
Domestic sales were 66,190 units (42,493 units). Cumulative sales (including exports) for the fiscal at 5.67 lakh units, recorded a growth of 28 per cent over 4.44 lakh units sold previously.
