Car Sales Go Up By 17.9% in August

Riding on increase in sales of the top three manufacturers – Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Honda Cars, car sales jumped 17.9% in August. This is also the third successive month for a double-digit growth in car sales.

Led by compact and utility vehicle segments, wholesale dispatches of Maruti Suzuki increased by 29.3% in the month to 98,304 units as against 76,018 units in the same month last year.

Propelled by new launches like Elite i20, Xcent and the Grand, Hyundai’s sale increased 19.2%.

Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president – sales and marketing, Hyundai Motor India said, "We maintain a cautious optimism for a good festive season on the strength of new products, increase in demand for petrol cars and improving customer sentiments."

Honda Cars India, too, maintained the momentum with an 88% increase in in domestic wholesale dispatches.

Kumar Kandaswami, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, said, "The spurt in growth seems to be more on account of the prevailing sentiment rather than on hard economic data, at the moment. There may be a tapering off of demand if the economic parameters remain weak in the coming months."