Indica Sales Surge 148% In January

Tata Engineering has reported highest-ever sales of its small car Indica in January. Sales during the month, at 7,365 units, is 148 per cent higher than the January 2001 figure. It has also recorded the highest sales of its mainstay medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) during the current fiscal, at 5,998 units against 5,429 units in January 2001.

Indica sales during the month have surpassed its previous record of 7,093 units in March 2000. Consequently, cumulative sales of the Indica during the first ten months of this fiscal, at 48,746 units, has crossed total sales of 43,746 units during the previous fiscal.

While the V2 diesel still continues to garner most of Indica's sales, senior company executives said the share of V2 petrol is also growing.

Rajiv Dube, vice president (passenger cars business unit), Tata Engineering said, "We have set ourselves a target of improving the sales mix of V2 petrol to 20 per cent of total Indica sales by March, and are on the way to achieving it."

Tata Engineering would achieve a cash break-even on Indica at a sales volume of 54,000 units.

Utility vehicle sales grew 7.5 per cent during January to touch 2,370 units. However, cumulative utility vehicle sales, at 18,995 units, are lower than the previous fiscal's figure of 24,995 by a massive 27.27 per cent, despite an increase in overall industry sales.

Also, sales of the company's light commercial vehicles (LCV) continued their downward slide. In January, its LCV sales were 12.7 per cent lower over the January 2001 figure to touch 2,379 units. According to auto analysts, the poor performance in the LCV and UV segment were primarily responsible for the company's losses during the previous quarter.