India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Car sales in India in April reached at an annual high of 39.5 percent, indicating consumer demand despite rising prices. Buyers are usually subdued in April after bunched purchases at the close of the financial year in March to take advantage of tax breaks on depreciation. Domestic car sales were 143,976 in April, up from 103,227 in the same month last year, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data showed, led by Maruti Suzuki, which sold 80,034 units. Other players such as General Motors India and Toyota Kirloskar too reported more than 50 percent jump in sales year-on-year. For Toyota the sale of cars peaked at 420 units of MUV segment in Chennai alone. "The last month's sales of cars is huge in Chennai because of the tax increase from eight percent to 15 percent," said Shankar, Sales Manager, Toyota Cars. Sales of trucks and buses also rose 64.5 percent in April to 49,086 units, SIAM said. Motorcycle sales rose 16.7 percent to 656,119.

Car sales see an all-time high in India