MUMBAI: India's biggest auto maker Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday said sales in January rose for the first time in eight months, led by higher demand for its hachtback models and a jump in exports.
The company, majority-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said sales rose 5.2 percent year on year to 115,433 vehicles. The last time the firm saw a rise was May, just as it began suffering a series of crippling labour disputes at one of its plants in the northern state of Haryana.
The labour unrest has now eased.
Sales were highest for hatchbacks -- the Swift, Estilo and Ritz -- which saw a 22 percent jump.
Domestic sales were broadly flat at 101,047 vehicles compared with 100,422 in the same month a year earlier, but exports surged 54 percent to 14,386 units.
India, which has been one of the world's fastest growing car markets in recent years, suffered a slowdown in demand last year as many buyers decided to defer purchases or cancel them altogether, due to costly auto loans and rising fuel expenses.
However, demand has picked up slightly since November.
Analysts expect car sales to keep improving in the coming months, with India's central bank expected to start lowering interest rates as inflation shows signs of moderating.
Sales of new cars in India are likely to pick up in the next financial year, the industry body Society of Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has said.
SIAM forecasts car sales to grow 11 to 13 percent in 2012-13, well above the zero to two percent growth it expects for this fiscal year.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012
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