Maruti sales dip 7% in October

As the global economic crisis muffles demand, the country’s automobile sector continued its downward journey in October.

Maruti Suzuki, which sells one of every two cars in the country, today said its sales fell 7 per cent in October. Its exports rose 4 per cent, but were more than offset by an 8 per cent drop in domestic sales.

Honda Siel Cars India, which sells the successful City, reported an over four-fold fall in sales to only 1,476 units in October from 5,287 in the same month last year.

Bajaj Auto, the country’s second-largest two-wheeler maker, witnessed a 34.01 per cent fall in motorcycle sales in October to 163,850 units from 248,307 units in the same month last year.

Bajaj’s rival and the largest in the business, Hero Honda, reported a 3.44 per cent decline in sales to 352,449 units in October from 365,022 in the same month last year.

Third-placed TVS Motor Company’s two-wheeler sales fell 9.65 per cent to 117,101 units.

However, Hyundai Motor India managed to buck the trend. It reported a 9.9 per cent rise in domestic passenger car sales last month to 20,009 units from 18,207 units in the same month last year. Including exports, the growth rate was much higher at 65.84 per cent.