The Hindu Business Line : Rising interest rates bite Tata Motors sales in May

Mumbai June 1 Rising interest rates are beginning to bite into sales of commercial vehicles with proof coming from Tata Motors' sales figures of May 2007.

The company's heavy commercial vehicles (HCV) sales fell by a sharp 17 per cent to 10,500 units in May compared to the same month last year.

This is the second consecutive month of falling HCV sales reported by Tata Motors; April 2007 sales were 14 per cent lower compared to April 2006.

However, sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV), driven by the popular sub-1 tonne carrier Ace, grew 10 per cent in May with sales of 10,175 units. Interestingly, there is a slowdown in this segment as well.

LCV sales had risen by 22 per cent in April 2007. The company's total commercial vehicles' sales in May in the domestic market were 20,675 units, a decline of 6 per cent over 21,903 vehicles sold in May 2006.

Passenger vehicles

Meanwhile, trends in the passenger vehicles business were also not encouraging with sales declining albeit by a marginal 3 per cent in May. Sales of Indica dipped by 3 per cent to 12,002 units while the Indigo family saw a growth of 22 per cent to 2,215 units.

Utility vehicles also saw a good 18 per cent growth in May 2007. The company's sales from exports were flat at 4,303 vehicles in May 2007 as compared to 4,339 units in the same period last year.

More Stories on : Performance | Tata Motors Ltd | HCV/LCV/Tractors | Interest Rates

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