Propelled by Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors, car sales surged by 12.8 per cent in September 2003 as customers reaped the benefits of low interest loans and budgetary cut in excise.

Car sales went up for the sixth consecutive month to 56,764 units over 50,292 units in September 2002, the data released on Tuesday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed.

Sales during April-September 2003 grew by a robust 23.7 per cent to 319,000 units from 258,000 cars during the same period last year.

Car sales are driving northward on the back of an eight per cent excise duty reduction in the budget and low interest loans coupled with rising disposable income.

Bus and truck sales posted a whopping 44.8 per cent rise in September to 23,537 units as both medium and heavy and light commercial vehicles witnessed higher demand.

Sales of these two during the first half of this fiscal jumped by 32 per cent to 109,000 units primarily due to satisfactory work on the Golden Quadrilateral Highway Project, the prime minister's rural road network, and spurt in the infrastructure sector.

Sale of two-wheelers grew by 15.1 per cent in September to 481,000 units as motorcycles and scooters recorded higher sales. However, mopeds continued to ride into negative territory.

The cumulative two-wheeler sales stood higher by seven per cent at 25.44 lakh (2.54 million) units.

Scooters and scooterettees, which are witnessing renewed customer interest, clocked a 13.8 per cent growth in September to 83,349 units.

Sale of motorcycles and step-thrus went up by 17.6 per cent to 369,000 units but that of mopeds dived seven per cent to 28,167 units during the review month.

In the growing utility-vehicle segment, sales surged by 32 per cent to 12,823 units in September. Cumulative utility vehicles sales grew by 28.2 per cent to 64,625 units.

Sale of multi-purpose-vehicles and vans grew by 15.6 per cent to 5,194 units in September, largely on account of higher demand for  Maruti Versa and Omni van models.

Three-wheelers posted an impressive 24.8 per cent rise to 25,131 units while cumulative sales stood 9.8 per cent higher at 122,000 units.

Sales of car market leader Maruti Udyog grew by 4.39 per cent to 27,023 units in September while that of Hyundai Motor India went up nine per cent to 10,950 units.

Tata Motors clocked an impressive 39 per cent rise to 10,008 units as its compact car Indica and mid-size model Indigo caught customers' attention.

The local subsidiaries of the US automaker Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. posted a 33.7 and 165.1 per cent growth to 2,030 and 1,991 units, respectively.

Sales of Hindustan Motors dived by 35.6 per cent to 1,238 units while that of the local arm of troubled Italian auto maker Fiat also suffered a 23.2 per cent dip to 1,153 units.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the latest entrant in the car market, sold 926 units of its sedans Corolla and Camry during the review month.

Czech carmaker Skoda Auto's local unit sold 407 units of the Octavia sedan while luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler posted a 108.1 per cent rise to 204 units.

In the MUV category, sales of market leader Mahindra and Mahindra surged by 53 per cent to 6,100 units, mainly due to increased demand of the Scorpio model.

Tata Motors posted a 45.8 per cent growth to 2,998 units but that of Toyota Kirloskar Motor fell 17 per cent to 2,407 units.

Bajaj Tempo and Maruti posted 115 and 9.83 per cent growth to 787 and 335 UVs respectively.

Sales of medium and heavy (M&H) buses and trucks surged by 47.4 per cent in September to 14,528 units, following growth recorded by Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland.

M&H truck sales grew by 53.5 per cent to 12,407 units while that of M&H buses went up by 14.7 per cent to 2,121 units.

M&H truck sales of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland climbed 60.7 and 50.2 per cent to 8,346 and 3,243 units, respectively.

In the M&H bus segment, sales of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland drove up by 14.7 and 21.3 per cent to 974 and 1,109 units, respectively.

Sale of light trucks surged by 56.6 per cent to 7,374 units but that of light buses fell by 3.02 per cent to 1,635 units.

Overall, light truck and bus sales grew by 40.8 per cent to 9,009 units in September.

Light truck sales of Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra jumped by 90 and 36 per cent to 4,144 and 2,384 units, respectively in September.

In the motorcycle and step-thru segment, sales of market leader Hero Honda Motors rose by 17.6 per cent to 155,000 units while that of Bajaj Auto went up by 26.3 per cent to 91,634 units.

The Chennai-based TVS Motor Company suffered a 6.8 per cent dip to 63,072 units while that of Royal Enfield Motors remained flat at 1,983 units during the review month.

Sales of Yamaha Motor India went up by 34.5 per cent to 34,673 units while that of the latest entrant, LML, surged by 54.6 per cent to 15,614 units.

The Pune-based Kinetic Engineering witnessed a 51.5 per cent growth to 6,643 units in September.

Scooter and scooterette sales jumped by 13.7 per cent to 83,349 units as Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India posted a 118 per cent rise to 26,767 units, while TVS Motor clocked a 38 per cent growth to 17,839 units.

Sales of Bajaj Auto and LML dipped by 17 and 45.1 per cent to 22,894 and 2,970 units, respectively.

Kinetic Engineering posted a marginal 1.83 per cent rise to 4,041 units but Kinetic Motor Co. recorded a 16.2 per cent decline to 8,489 units during the review month.

In the moped category, sales of TVS Motor Co. rose by a modest 3.2 per cent to 22,464 units.

Three-wheeler sales rose by 24.8 per cent to 25,131 units in September, while cumulative sales went up by 9.8 per cent to 122,000 units.

Sales of goods carriers rose by 67.4 per cent to 9,165 units while that of passenger carriers went up by nine per cent to 15,966 units.

Sales of Bajaj Auto rose in passenger carriers category by 6.1 per cent to 13,377 units and in goods carriers, it soared by 149.6 per cent to 2,117 units.

Piaggio Vehicles posted a 32.6 per cent rise in sale of passenger carriers to 1,224 units while in goods carriers, its sales rose by 64.2 per cent to 3,237 units.