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Commercial vehicles sales accelerate

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, July 18

COMMERCIAL vehicle sales volumes have picked up in June, making it the best month in this fiscal so far. But the volumes are still lower compared to the same period last year. Total commercial vehicle sales fell by 7.89 per cent to 10,937 in June 2001 co mpared to June 2000.

According to figures released by SIAM on Wednesday, heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) sales fell by 5.19 per cent to 6,430 while light commercial vehicle (LCV) offtake dropped by 11.48 per cent in June 2001 compared to June 2000.

This has been the best performance of the industry in the first three months of this fiscal. Though volumes are lower compared to the previous year, the quantum of drop is smaller compared to April and May 2001.

It is significant that total commercial vehicle sales of 10,937 in June 2001 is about 38 per cent and 32 per cent higher than the volumes registered in April and May 2001 respectively.

In the HCV segment, Tata Engineering has performed better than in the previous two months. It managed to retain sales at almost the same level compared to June 2000. Tata Engineering sold 3,997 HCVs in June 2001 (4,068 HCVs). On the other hand, Ashok Ley land saw sales drop by 10.35 per cent to 2,433 vehicles in June 2001.

In the LCV segment, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Engineering have been clear losers with their sales drop being considerably higher than the industry average. It is very clear that M&M is facing problems in the LCV segment as well (it has problems in the multi-utility vehicle segment) as offtake of its LCVs in June 2001 fell by a huge 30.51 per cent when the total LCV sales dropped by 11.48 per cent.

Tata Engineering saw its own LCV offtake fall by 16.32 per cent to 2,660 vehicles in June 2001. Swaraj Mazda performed exceptionally well in this segment showing a sales growth of 41.51 per cent to 525 vehicles.

The commercial vehicles industry ended the first quarter of this fiscal with a sales drop of 15.34 per cent compared to the April-June 2000 period.