September 08, 2008

Indian car sales in April surges ahead of likely price hikes

Reuters reported that India's domestic car sales rose at the fastest pace in October 2007 to April 2008 period, while bike sales notched up their first annual rise in a year, as customers advanced purchases expecting the rising cost of steel to push up prices.
According to data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, passenger car sales rose an annual 17.2% YoY to 98,740 units in April 2008. Motorcycle sales, which had declined nearly 12% in the year to March 2008 as high financing costs weighed after a series of interest rate increases, rose by 8.3% YoY in April to 501,592 units. Sales of commercial vehicles like trucks and buses stood at 33,271 units in April 2008, up by 7.6% YoY from 30,914.

Mr Sugato Sen director at SIAM said that "If the costumers wait, in the next 2 to 3 months, prices will go up. To avoid that, they are buying now. They have now resigned to the fact that interest rates are not going to go down in the near future."

Meanwhile, India's top car maker Maruti Suzuki India Limited and bike maker TVS Motor Co Limited have said that they will raise prices.