News: Cars beat bikes in May India sales

(TT 10/06/2006) New Delhi - The growth in car sales in May has been higher than the demand for motorcycles. While car manufacturers sold 30 per cent more, the growth in bike sales was 24.6 per cent in May.

According to the figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), 88,814 cars were sold in May against 68,519 in the same month last year, recording a growth of 29.6 per cent.

Eight of the 11 carmakers, including Maruti, Tata Motors, Hyundai, Ford, Honda and General Motors, saw sales going up substantially. However, luxury carmakers DaimlerChrysler, Fiat and Toyota Kirloskar Motors recorded a fall in demand.

The demand for Maruti grew 31.6 per cent as the company’s sales in the month stood at 45,267 cars against 34,382 in May 2005. For Tata Motors, the numbers increased to 15,253 from 11,511 in May 2005, SIAM said.

Motorcycles continued their strong run as sales jumped 24.6 per cent to 5,69,005 units in May from 4,56,565 in the year-ago period.

Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto emerged as segment leaders, while TVS also contributed significantly. Hero Honda sold 2,85,193 bikes in May 2006 against 2,16,971 in the year-ago period, registering a growth of 31.4 per cent. The demand for Bajaj rose 20.2 per cent to 1,72,847 units.

Scooter sales, however, fell 1.2 per cent to 73,919 units from 74,864 units in May 2005.