FAST LANE Auto cos on a high again, sales zoom 38% Two-Wheelers Follow Suit With 50% Sales Growth; Lower Borrowing Costs, New Models Propel Demand In Oct Our Bureau MUMBAI CAR sales zoomed 38% with 1.82 lakh vehicles being sold in October this year,

FAST LANE

Auto cos on a high again, sales zoom 38%

Two-Wheelers Follow Suit With 50% Sales Growth; Lower Borrowing Costs, New Models Propel Demand In Oct

 CAR sales zoomed 38% with 1.82 lakh vehicles being sold in October this year, the fifth consecutive month of buoyant gains, a trend automakers expect to continue because of a growing economy and lower borrowing costs.
New cars such as Maruti Suzuki's revamped WagonR, Ford's Figo, Polo from Volkswagen, Nissan Motor's Micra and an upgraded i10 from Hyundai propelled demand during the
Dussehra-Diwali period, considered an auspicious time to make new purchases.
    Total vehicles sales — that includes two-wheelers commercial vehicles and three-wheelers or autorickshaws — stood at 14.6 lakh units last month, a shade higher than the previous best of 13.3 lakh units sold in September this year.
    Analysts tracking the auto industry said that the current momentum is likely to continue with the comparatively low penetration level of vehicles in India likely to drive growth in the long term.
    "Rising incomes and robust economic growth are likely to help auto companies sustain their top-line growth helped by sound volume growth," said Vaishali Jajoo, auto analyst with Mumbai-based Angel Broking.
    The industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) revised its sales projections and now expects the industry to grow around 20% this fiscal. However, in contrast to the automobile manufacturers, it expects sales to slow down during the rest of the fiscal.
    "We have witnessed higher 46% growth in October on the back of strong festive demand, but in the coming months the base effect could moderate this growth as sales are normally sluggish in the third quarter as customers prefer to buy cars in new year," said SIAM director general Vishnu Mathur.
    SIAM now expects car and sport-utility vehicles sales to grow 21-23% to 2.4 million vehicles this year, up from an earlier forecast of 12-13% growth. According to carmakers the festive season is expected to spill over to November keeping the sales momentum going.
    "The overall fundamentals of the industry are strong. With interest rates continuing to be favourable and flexible availability of financing, we are expecting bumper sales in November too," Maruti's chief general manager (marketing) Shashank Srivastava said.
    The two-wheeler industry also hit a sweet spot with an all-time high monthly sales of 11.27 lakh units, a 50% growth over October 2009, mainly helped by strong demand for scooters whose sales doubled to 1,88,633 units in October this year, with the Indian units of Honda Motor and Suzuki Motorcycles posting impressive gains.
    "While demand for scooters has picked up in the past few months, the festive period witnessed a huge draw of customers. Despite increasing our production our 125cc Access scooter has a waiting period of over three months," Suzuki Motorcycle India vice-president Atul Gupta said. SIAM has projected the twowheeler market to scale the 11-million mark this fiscal.
    Despite the boom in retail products the sales of heavy commercial vehicles, considered a barometer of the economy, slowed down compared with the earlier months. In October, the truck and bus segment grew 13% to 21,807 units over the same month of last fiscal, but much lower than 30,453 units sold in September this year.