UVs like Vitara Brezza, Creta drive passenger vehicles sales in May

Overwhelming response for the newly launched Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and the steady sales of Hyundai Creta increased the growth of utility vehicles (UV) in May. UV sales increased by 36 percent in May 2016 compare to May 2015 and helped domestic passenger vehicle sales to rise 6.26 percent in May.

According to the data released by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), automobile manufactures dispatched 2,31,640 units of cars and utility vehicles to its dealerships in May. Sales of passenger cars fell 0.86 percent to 1,58,996, while UVs sales registered 36 percent growth to 58,793 units, reports the Economic Times.

Sales of commercial vehicles rose nearly 17 percent to 57,089 units in May. Two wheelers sales registered a 9.75 percent growth in May 2016 to 15,15,556 units. Within the two wheelers segment, scooters witnessed a 25 percent growth over May 2015-May 2016.

The industry produced a total 4,312,859 vehicles including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers and two wheelers in April-May 2016 as against 3,875,828 in April-May 2015, registering a growth of 11.28 percent over the same month last year.

Maruti Suzuki reportedly sold 7,200 unit of the Vitara Brezza in May, while Hyundai sold 7,057 units of the Creta. Both the models have significant lead over the other SUVs sold in India. Vitara Brezza launched in March this year currently has over 70,000 bookings and waiting period up to nine months. Hyundai Creta launched in July last year registered over 1 lakh bookings in March.