Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 2310 hrs Despite persistent high interest rates and liquidity crunch, all sectors in the Indian automobile industry, except electric two-wheelers, have witnessed a positive growth in May, thanks to new models getting launched in the recent past and raining discounts and offers by various manufacturers. This has resulted in a growth of 8.93% in the overall industry with passenger vehicles registering the highest growth of 16.59% during May at 1,41,946 units as compared to 1,21,753 units in May last year.

According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the domestic passenger car sales went up by 14.26% at 1,10,743 units during the month as compared to 96,923 units in the same month a year ago.

Segment leader Maruti Suzuki India registered a growth of 16.13% at 57,315 units as against 49,354 units in the same month in 2007. Rival Hyundai Motors sold 24,506 units during the month vis-à-vis 16,617 units last year, a growth of 47.48%. General Motors India posted a 6.12% jump in sales at 3,847 units, compared to 3,625 units last year. Tata Motors, however, recorded a flat growth at 14,228 units as against 14,217 units in the same month previous year.

For the second month in a row, two-wheeler sales went up by 7% at 6,47,358 units, compared to 6,05,014 units in the same month last year. Motorcycles witnessed a growth of 7.39% at 5,13,209 units, against 4,77,901 units during the year-ago month and sales of scooters went up by 6.36% to 97,905 units, against 92,048 units in May 2007.

Hero Honda Motors registered sales of 2,97,387 units, against 2,69,532 units in the same period during 2007, up 10.33%. Rival Bajaj Auto, however, recorded a marginal increase at 1,30,068 units, against 1,29,724 units last year.