Car sales zoom in November

Car sales are on fire. Riding on a low base and softer interest rate regime, companies reported a double-digit jump in volumes in November. Maruti Suzuki said its November sales grew 60% at 76,359 units against 47,704 units in the same month last year. The company’s portfolio of small cars— Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo, Ritz, Swift and A-Star—saw sales going up 60% to 56,005 units (34,976).The global economic recession had hit Indian auto industry around this time last year. While car sales had crashed by 19% in November 2008, sales of motorcycles fell around 20%.Hyundai also had a good growth as its domestic sales shot up by 93% at 28,162 units against 14,605 units in November last year. Exports fell around 5% at 27,103 units as compared to 28,414 units last November. Tata/Fiat joint venture witnessed 55% rise in sales at 22,671 units against 14,612 units in the same month last year. Tata’s sales in the month stood at 20,706 units (14,327) while Fiat’s numbers were 1,965 units (285). General Motors said November sales were up 65% at 7,118 units against 4,307 units in November last year. The company said its new sedan Cruze sold 518 units, while the entry-level Spark provided the bulk at 4,202 units. For luxury carmaker Honda, the numbers were near flat as sales grew 2% at 5,125 units against 5,025 units in the same month last year. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra’s sales were up 102% at 15,193 units against 7,523 units. The company got higher numbers from the addition of Xylo to its portfolio. On the two-wheeler side, Hero Honda’s sales rose 32% to 3.81 lakh units against 2.89 lakh units in the same month last year.