Motown snippets

Car sales in the domestic market registered a 28% growth to 67,528 units in July.The country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), reported a 33% jump in sales to 78,074 cars. Exports continued to perform well on strong demand from Europe. Maruti’s overseas sales jumped 87% to 10,546 cars in July. The major growth for the company came from new models such as A-Star and Ritz, along with Swift and WagonR in the premium hatchback segment. The sedan segment, comprising of SX4 and Dzire, increased 51% to 9,101 cars in July, though sales of the company’s oldest model M800 declined 44% to 2,796 cars in the same period. Premium car maker Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) posted a 12% increase in sales to 4,857 cars in July. The major jump came from flagship model City, of which 3,268 units were sold in July, while sales of the superhatch Jazz also boosted growth. Utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra’s sales grew 27% to 21,957 vehicles in July, on the back of strong demand for its Scorpio, Bolero and Xylo vehicles. The company sold 16,688 of these utility vehicles in July. Analysts tracking the auto sector have painted a positive outlook for the next few months. The two-wheeler market also followed the car segment in posting high sales. Hero Honda, the world’s largest seller of bikes, posted a sales jump of 30.4% to 3.66 lakh units in July. The company aims to sell over a million bikes in the July-September quarter. Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India posted a growth of 32% to 1.12 lakh units in July. TVS Motors posted a marginal 2% increase in sales to 1.20 lakh units in July, as its motorcycle sales dipped 20.44% while demand for its scooters was high. Japanese bike maker India Yamaha Motor’s sales grew 47 % to 17,316 bikes in July. Rival Suzuki Motorcycle India posted a 20% increase in sales to 12,585 units in July this year, on the back of strong demand for its newly launched 150 cc bike, GS 150R.