Domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 14.4 per cent to 2,65,320 units in January 2017 from 2,31,917 units in the same month last year, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Domestic car sales were up 10.83 per cent at 1,86,523 units as against 1,68,303 units in January last year.
Last week, country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki reported a 27.1 per cent increase in total sales (domestic and exports) at 1,44,396 units in January 2017 as against 1,13,606 in the year-ago period. Hyundai Motor India's domestic sales also grew by 10.5 per cent at 42,017 units in January 2017 when compared to 38,016 units in the same month last year.
The popular Innova and Fortuner maker Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported a 21 per cent increase in domestic sales in January at 10,336 units as compared with 8,511 units sold in January last year.
However, there was a 9 per cent sales decline of Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda Cars India.
The data released by SIAM also report a decline of 6.07 per cent for motorcycle sales at 8,19,386 units last month as against 8,72,323 in January 2017.
Total two-wheeler sales in January declined 7.39 per cent to 12,62,141 units as compared with 13,62,879 units in the year-ago month.
Two-wheeler sales being cash dependent in major part of the country is still facing the heat of demonetisation. The degrowth in two wheeler sales is expected to continue for a month or two.
Bajaj Auto’s domestic motorcycle sales were down by 15 per cent to 119,803 units in January from a year before. Hero MotoCorp's sales plunged by 13 per cent to 487,088 units.
Sales of commercial vehicles were down marginally at 61,239 units in January, SIAM said. Vehicle sales across categories registered a decline of 4.71 per cent to 16,20,045 units from 17,00,141 units in January 2016, it added.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
