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Uno sales zip past Maruti's

Maruti Udyog Limited's passenger car sales continued its south-bound journey slipping by 13 per cent in February 1999 compared to sales the same month last year even as Ind Auto Limited, riding on demand for its stripped-down Uno, whizzed past the competition.

The new entrants and the likes of Hyundai, Honda Siel and Mitsubishi, were, in fact, the only companies to witness a positive growth in sales during the month, latest industry estimates revealed.

Maruti could sell only 25,177 units of passenger cars during the entire month, which was 13 per cent lower than the 29,146 units sold in the same month last year, and 16 per cent lower than 30,027 units in February 1997. The company's total sales during the first 11 months of the current fiscal stood at 271,578 units.

Mercedes Benz India Limited's E-class sales dropped to a mere 30 units during the month, down 80 per cent from 151 in February 1998. Meanwhile, Daewoo Motors India Limited, despite the launch of the "big small car", Matiz, failed to perform on Indian roads and ended the month with a 6.4 per cent drop in total sales during the month. The company could offload only 160 Cielos and 700 Matizes during the period as against 919 units of Cielo in February 1998.

Pal-Peugeot seems to be out of the race now, not managing to sell a single unit as against a retail of 162 units of the Peugeot 309 last year.

Sales of General Motors India Limited also dipped by 29.5 per cent to touch 160 units of the Opel Astra. Last year it had sold 227 units.

Telco's car sales too were affected, with only 75 units being sold. This was down 72 per cent from the 275 units last February. Sales of Ford India Limited's Escort also dropped to 89 units in the second month of the current calendar year.

Honda Siel Cars India Limited was the star performer, with sales shooting up by 63 per cent year-on-year. As many as 604 units of Honda City were sold during the month, compared to 369 units last year.

Ind Auto Limited, riding on the sudden surge in demand for its Uno cars following massive price cuts, recorded sales of 1,701 units during the month, up from 728 units in January 1999.

Hindustan Motors sold around 1,109 passenger cars in February while Hyundai Motors offloaded 2,500 units of Santro and Mitsubishi-HM sold 516 units of Lancer.

During the first 11 months of the current fiscal, Hindustan Motors sold around 14,798 units, followed by Hyundai with 13,699 units and Ind Auto with 11,635 units. Daewoo sold around 9114 cars during the period while Honda Siel offloaded 8,272 cars.

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