Nov car sales rise 5.4% on excise sop

After a muted festive season, sales of passenger vehicles increased by 5.4 per cent to 212,438 units in November, driven by lower fuel prices and excise duty relief.

"Sales grew in November as the sentiment has improved due to the overall cost of ownership having come down with the lowering of fuel prices and benefits of reduced excise duty continuing," said Vishnu Mathur, director-general, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).

Sales of passenger vehicles had dropped by 7.5 per cent to 221,151 units in October, for the first time since April when passenger vehicle sales had declined by 9.5 per cent to 188,541 units.

"Hopefully, we are on a recovery path. If you want it deep-rooted, an interest rate cut is required so that people sitting on the fence start buying," added Mathur.

The sales tally last month was led by Maruti Suzuki, which grew volumes by a robust 17 per cent selling 100,024 units in the domestic market on back of new launches Celerio and Ciaz. Rival Hyundai Motor India saw its sales grow by six per cent to 35,448 units from 33,427 units in the same month last year.

Motorcycle sales last month, however, declined by three per cent to 853,254 units from 880,078 units a year earlier, according to Siam data. "Motorcycle sales have been hit as rural sales have been impacted by a weak monsoon. It is the scooter segment which has been driving the growth of the two-wheeler segment," Mathur said.

According to Siam, sales of scooters in November 2014 grew by 26.4 per cent to 386,547 from 3,05,586 units in the same month last year. Overall two-wheeler sales in November went up by 4.89 per cent to 1,301,431 units. Sales of commercial vehicles, too, grew by 9 per cent to 47,686 units in November, Siam said. "Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles sales grew by 40 per cent in November, the highest during the fiscal," Mathur said. Total vehicle sales across categories registered an increase of five per cent to 1,603,292 units from 15,26,514 units in November 2013.