Car sales flat at 1.83%, bikes zoom 17% in Feb

The domestic car sales registered almost a flat growth at 1.83 per cent in February this year. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers the sales of Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) and Hyundai Motors' declined by 3.71 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively.

Passenger cars recorded sales of 63,215 units in February this year compared with 62,073 units in the same month a year ago. MUL sold 32,259 units in February this year, compared with 33,505 units last year.

Hyundai sold 8,780 units, down from 9,518 units in February 2005. Tata Motors registered a 12 per cent growth in sales, with 14,201 units sold in February this year, against 12,671 units in the same month last year.

The motorcycle segment, however, posted a 16.98 per cent sales growth in February this year. Total sales was at 4.97 lakh units compared with 4.25 lakh units in the same month last year.

Hero Honda registered 11.46 per cent growth in sales, selling 2.41 lakh units, compared with 2.16 lakh units last year. Bajaj Auto saw motorcycle sales grow 33.43 per cent in February as it sold 1.57 lakh units in February this year, against 1.18 lakh units in the same month last year.

Two wheeler sales rose 15.57 per cent in February at about 6 lakh units, against 5.19 lakh units in the same month last year. The commercial vehicles segment posted a 19.16 per cent sales growth in the month at 35,049 units compared with 29,411 units in the same month a year ago.

In February, the medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HV) segment recorded a sales growth of 17.61 per cent, at 21,223 units against 18,044 units in the same month a year ago.

Tata Motors sold 12,085 units in February, 18 per cent more than 10,201 units in the same month a year ago.

The light commercial vehicle category grew by 21.6 per cent at 13,826 units in February against 11,367 units last year.

During the April-February period this year, the passenger car segment witnessed a 5.57 per cent sales growth, with 7.71 lakh unit sales recorded for the period, against 7.30 lakh units in the corresponding period last year.

The Two Wheeler segment grew by 13.05 per cent during the period, with 6,409,135 units sold in the 11 months against 5,669,213 in the same period last year. Motorcycle sales led the chart by growing at 16.59 per cent.