Car sales in the country surged by 41 per cent in May 2003 as all major companies like Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Engineering recorded strong growth following an eight per cent excise duty cut in this year's Budget.

Total sales rose to 55,166 units from 39,150 units in the same month last year, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed on Monday.

The May sales were also higher by 30 per cent as compared to 42,506 cars sold in April this year.

Cumulative (April-May 2003) car sales jumped 35 per cent to 97,672 units from 72,345 units a year earlier.

Excise duty on cars and multi-utility-vehicles was cut by eight per cent to 24 per cent in the 2003-04 Budget. The actual reduction is however, seven per cent following imposition of one per cent contingency tax.

Sale of trucks and buses rose by 27.4 per cent to 16,725 units during the review month (13,123 units in May 2002) with both light and heavy vehicles posting higher sales.

Cumulative sales in this segment stood higher by 16.5 per cent at 28,569 units (24,520 units).

Total two-wheeler sales went up by 3.5 per cent to 440,000 units as demand for motorcycles slowed down during the month while scooters and mopeds recorded decline.    

Motorcycle sales went up by a modest 7.1 per cent to 3,47,059 units (3,23,792 units) while scooters suffered a three per cent drop at 71,392 units (73,578 units).

Sale of mopeds too went down by 21 per cent to 22,471 units (28,410 units).

Sale of multi-utility-vehicles jumped by 26.5 per cent to 10,217 units in May 2003 as firms like Mahindra and Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar witnessed increased demand.

Multi-purpose-vehicles too recorded a 17.7 per cent rise at 5,351 units while three-wheeler sales went up by 5.26 per cent to 17,587 units during the month under review.

Car market leader Maruti Udyog posted a 52.7 per cent increase at 30,894 units in May 2003 while Hyundai Motor India clocked a 14.7 per cent growth at 8,900 units.

Tata Engineering, which makes the compact car Indica and mid-size Indigo, too posted an impressive 192.3 per cent jump at 8,755 units.

Sale of Honda Siel and General Motors rose by 44.1 and 38.7 per cent to 1,198 and 889 units respectively.

New entrant Toyota Kirloskar sold 885 cars while luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler posted a 113 per cent rise at 130 cars in May this year. Ford and Fiat, however, recorded 28.4 and 65.8 per cent drop in sales at 1,133 and 1,204 units respectively.

Sale of Hindustan Motors too declined by 22.4 per cent to 1,178 cars during the review month. In the MUV segment, Mahindra and Mahindra recorded a 33 per cent jump at 4,748 units while that of Toyota Kirloskar surged by 55.2 per cent to 2,643 units.

Tata Engineering and Bajaj Tempo registered a two and 45 per cent growth in sales at 2,160 and 319 units respectively. Maruti recorded a three per cent dip in MUV sales at 269 units while in the MPV segment its sales went up by 18 per cent to 5,351 units.