Auto firms continue happy riding in June
Car sales showed a good growth in June, maintaining the momentum which started around January. Analysts see high sales in the auto sector continuing for the next three quarters. The country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, has reported a 17.28 per cent jump in its sales in June.
SkodaAuto India’s total sales for June 2010 stood at 1,638 units against 1,145 units in June 2009. Sales for the first half of 2010 stood at 68 per cent. It sold a total of 9,814 units in this period as against 5,840 units for the year ago period.
“The confidence of the consumers is high. The economy is doing well which has removed uncertainty and people are not fearing to make purchases,” said Pricewaterhouse Coopers Head (Automotive Practice) Mr Abdul Majeed. He said that the auto penetration in India is low which is also fuelling growth. “Some 70-80 per cent of the purchases which are made are by those people who are buying a car for the first time,” said Mr Majeed. What is also helping is that the interest rates are still not too high. Auto makers have also been launching new models, which also increases the interest of the consumers to make purchase.
During the financial crisis, the auto demand in India had fallen as consum-ers were unsecure about their jobs. But sales started moving up as the economy started picking up.
However, what could spoil the party is the increa-se in the auto prices in coming days. General Motors has already announced price hike by up to two per cent from July 5 due to increase in raw material prices. Other car makers are also evaluating options.
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Toyota recalls 2.7 lakh cars
New Delhi, July 1: Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp, which is facing the possibility of recalling about 2,70,000 vehicles globally, due to faulty engines, on Thursday said its products in India are unaffected by the problem. “India is unaffected,” Toyota Kirloskar Motor deputy managing director (marketing), Mr Sandeep Singh, said.
The defective engines could stall while the vehicles were moving. — PTI
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