New Delhi, Mar 23: Surging sales of trucks of Tata Engineering, Ashok Leyland and Eicher Motors drove commercial vehicles sales up by 33.5 per cent during the first 11 months of this fiscal. A total of 1.69 lakh vehicles were sold during April-February 2002-03 against 1.26 lakh units in the same period last year, data compiled by the society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed. While sale of Medium and Heavy (M&H) trucks and buses grew by 32.3 per cent to 1.01 lakh units (76,969 units in April-February 2001-02), Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) clocked a 35.3 per cent rise at 67,155 units (49,608 units). The growth in M&H segment was attributed to truck sales which registered a 35.8 per cent rise at 84,695 units.
M&H truck sales of Tata Engineering jumped 38.6 per cent to 57,347 units while that of Ashok Leyland increased by 26.8 per cent to 20,071 units.
Sales of Eicher Motors and Swaraj Mazda surged by 37 and 60.6 per cent to 5,459 and 1,680 units respectively.
Czech truck maker Tatra Udyog posted a 17 per cent growth to 138 units.
Commercial vehicle sales, a good indicator of economic growth, has been rising steadily during this fiscal thereby showing signs of economic buoyancy. Analysts attribute this to impressive growth in manufacturing sector and good progress in the ongoing national highway development project.
Cyclical replacement by fleet operators also contributed to the growth.
Bureau Report