April did not fool the auto companies (Roundup)

The Indian automotive market had a satisfactory April with most players logging positive growth, though challenging conditions continue to remain, said company officials.

Most of makers of passenger vehicles clocked growth last month.

"The current economic environment is still a mixed bag with inflation easing but weak monsoon, coupled with high interest rates, can potentially put pressure on vehicle sales in the coming months," said Anurag Mehrotra, executive director Marketing, Sales and Service at Ford India.

"We expect the demand to improve towards the last quarter of 2015 and are geared to make the most of this improvement with plans to introduce three new products in the next 12-15 months," he added.

Driven by exports, car maker Ford India closed last month selling 14,215 units, logging an overall growth over the corresponding period of last year.

It sold 14,215 units last months compared to 13,297 units sold in April 2014.

According to Ford India, April domestic wholesales stood at 4,931 vehicles against 6,651 units in the same month last year, while exports grew to 9,284 vehicles compared to 6,646 units in April 2014.

Two- and three-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company Ltd logged 14 percent sales growth last month over the corresponding period of 2014 selling 195,937 units last month up from 171,897 units sold in April 2014.

Another two wheeler maker Eicher Motors Ltd sold 33,918 units up from 23,818 units sold in April 2014.

In the commercial vehicles segment, VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd sold 3,930 units last month up from 3,503 units.

On the other hand Tata Motors Ltd registered a five percent fall in its commercial vehicles sales with 22,189 units sold last month while logging growth in the passenger car segment excluding the utility vehicles segment.

Tata Motors passenger vehicles recorded sales of 10,230 units, a growth of 37 percent, compared to 7,441 units, sold in April 2014.

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd also clocked marginal growth selling 36,727 units last month up from 36,288 units sold during April 2014.