Passenger car sales up 8 percent in May: SIAM

The domestic passenger car sales grew by 7.73 percent in May and stood at 160,067 units from 148,577 units sold during the corresponding month of 2014, industry data showed on Wednesday.

According to the data furnished by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the total passenger vehicle sales, which include cars, utility vehicles and vans, went up by 4.67 percent to 217,671 units from 207,953 units sold in May 2014.

SIAM data showed that sales of utility vehicles fell by 2.27 percent at 43,260 units. The off-take of vans declined by 5.06 percent and stood at 14,344 units.

The industry data for the last month reported a 3.95 percent growth in the overall commercial vehicles segment sales, which is a key indicator of economic activity.

The commercial vehicles segment off-take for May stood at 48,841 units from 46,986 units sold during the corresponding month of 2014.

However, the sales of three-wheelers declined by 9.71 percent in the month under review at 36,500 units from 40,425 units sold in May of 2014.

Sales of two-wheelers went marginally down last month by 1.25 percent to 1,380,950 units from 1,398,376 units sold in the like month of 2014.

Scooter sales in May were up 2.61 percent at 364,073 units, while motorcycle sales declined by 3.04 percent at 953,322 units.

Exports for the month under review went up by 3.99 percent at 310,518 units from 298,618 units shipped-out during May 2014.

Total automobile sales in May slipped by 0.58 percent at 1,683,962 units from 1,693,740 units sold in the corresponding month of 2014.