Domestic passenger car sales fall for first time in 15 months

Domestic passenger car sales fell for the first time in 15 months by logging a marginal dip of 0.72% to 1,68,303 units in January as against 1,69,527 units in the year-ago period.

Motorcycle sales last month, however, increased marginally to 8,72,325 units from 8,68,505 units a year earlier, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Total two-wheeler sales in January rose 2.63% to 13,62,881 units.

Sales of commercial vehicles rose 17.53% to 61,683 units in January, SIAM said.

Vehicle sales across categories registered an increase of 3.03% to 17,00,257 units from 16,50,227 units in January 2015, it added.

In December, rising for a 14th straight month, car sales in the country had surged by 12.87% as customers were lured by the auto industry into buying new vehicles by offering record discounts.