Maruti, General Motors accelerate, Bajaj Auto, TVS hit speed breaker, trucks stationary

Weak numbers from Bajaj Auto and TVS, pulled down Indian bike sales by 11 per cent in August. In contrast, passenger cars saw a robust 17 per cent rise in sales, led by market leader Maruti Udyog (MUL).

Figures released by the Society of Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), indicate that bike sales in August stood at 418,702 units compared with 470,955 units in the same month last year. The numbers dropped even though market leader Hero Honda managed a 10 per cent increase in sales at 221,541 units, against 200,208 units in the same month last year.

Bajaj Auto''s monthly sales numbers dipped a massive 23 per cent at 121,369 units, against 158,636 units in August 2006. But TVS Motors was completely in the dumps; its sales crashed a colossal 51.4 per cent, at 36,138 units against 74,426 units in the same month last year.

But August car sales stood at a healthy 98,893 units against 83,864 units in the corresponding month a year ago. Heavy discounting and new models enabled market leader MUL to register a healthy 24 per cent increase in numbers at 52,055 units against 41,728 units in the same month last year. General Motors saw an 18.63 per cent rise to 3,017 units.

Hyundai, however, could manage only a marginal improvement at 16,115 units against 16,067 units in the corresponding month a year ago. Tata Motors saw a 3.56 per cent decline at 13,588 units against 14,090 units.

The medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) segment was down 7.95 per cent in August, at 19,431 units. But light commercial vehicles (LCVs) made up for this; they reported a 19.9 per cent increase in sales at 16,978 units. All-in-all, commercial vehicle sales were up 2.23 per cent at 36,409 units compared to 35,268 units in the corresponding month a year ago.