General Motors India on Tuesday said its car sales soared by 77.3 per cent in June 2003 on the back of a surge in demand for the mid-size car, Opel Corsa.

The company sold 1,082 cars during the month as against 610 cars in June last year, a GMI spokesman told PTI in New Delhi.

The June sales were higher by 19.7 per cent as compared to 904 cars sold in May this year, the spokesman said.

Sales of the German-engineered Opel Corsa model jumped by 74.8 per cent to 925 units while that of the premium mid-size car Opel Astra went up by 44.4 per cent to 117 units during the review month, he said.

The luxury car Opel Vectra and sports-utility-vehicle Chevrolet Forester accounted for the remaining 40 units.

Sales during January-June 2003 stood higher by 9.8 per cent at 5,350 cars against 4,869 cars a year earlier.

During this period, Astra sales fell by 24.1 per cent to 643 units but the Corsa clocked a 5.4 per cent growth at 4,250 units.

The spokesman said a new mid-size car Chevrolet Optra would be launched by the second week of this month.

The car, with an 1800cc engine, is expected to be priced at about Rs 800,000-900,000.

Refuting reports that Astra would be discontinued soon, the spokesman said, "As long as there is demand, we will continue to produce the car. Now, you can see the demand is strong".

A wholly owned subsidiary of the world's largest automaker, General Motors Corp, the company produces cars at its plant at Halol (Gujarat).