Tata Engineering reported total sales of 18,112 vehicles in the domestic market in January 2002, representing a growth of 39 per cent over sales in January 2001.

Commercial vehicles
The company’s total sales of commercial vehicles in January 2002 stood at 8,377 units, showing an increase of 6.7 per cent over the corresponding period of last year, and a growth of nearly 19 per cent over unit sales in December 2001.

Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles increased by 17 per cent over January 2001, and by 13 per cent in the period April-January 2002.

Despite the overall slowdown in the light commercial vehicles sector, the company’s sales in this segment was at 2,379 units, up nearly 7 per cent from sales in December 2001 but down 12.7 per cent from sales in January 2001.

Passenger cars
The Indica registered its highest ever sales in January 2002, with sales of 7,365 units  in the domestic market, posting a growth of 148 per cent over January 2001 and 121 per cent over December 2001 sales. The previous highest sales figure recorded by the Indica was 7,093 units in March 2000.

Indica sales in January 2002 are also the highest registered by any model in its segment in this financial year. With this performance, cumulative domestic sales of the car stand at 48,746 units for the financial year, crossing the 2000-2001 full financial year sales figure of 43,811 units.

Cumulative sales since its launch, inclusive of exports, crossed the 150,000 mark in January 2002. The car has registered a sales growth of 39.6 per cent in the first 10 months of the current financial year, which is the highest growth rate for any model in its segment.

The Indica also became the top seller in its segment in September 2001, and has remained so over the last five months. Its market share stands at 22.1 per cent in an 8-model segment, up from 17.4 per cent last year.The recently launched V2 petrol model continues to do well and is forming an increasingly higher proportion of the sales mix.

Utility vehicle sales of the company was at 2,370 units in January 2002, a rise of 7.5 per cent over the corresponding period of last year and 38 per cent over December 2001. Cumulative sales for the first 10 months of the financial year stood at 18,995 units, accounting for an overall market share of 22.6 per cent. The Safari continued to do well in January 2002, and is on a 7.2 per cent growth curve for the financial year.

Overall, the passenger car segment registered total sales of 9,735 units in January 2002, a growth of 88 per cent over January 2001 and 92.4 per cent over December 2001. Cumulative sales of cars and utility vehicles were up 19.6 per cent for the first 10 months of the financial year at 67,790 vehicles. The company’s overall market share stood at 12.6 per cent at the end of January 2002, retaining its position amongst the top three players in the 14-player passenger car industry.