Passenger car sales may see some slow down

CNBC-TV18’s Executive Editor, Udayan Mukherjee - Auto numbers are not too good but, it’s historical information, the market knows that it was tough going for the auto sector in FY08. A couple of takeaways, cars did reasonably well in FY08, Passenger vehicles grew about 12%. This one will be a tougher year for cars, more competitions and tough conditions. Jagdish Khattar said the earlier day that he expects a high single digit growth for the car sector, so there could be a possible slow down on the passenger car front.

3 wheelers did not do well in FY08, still niggling problems there, and that’s not good news for Bajaj Auto because they contribute significantly to Bajaj’s bottom line.

Trucks are okay at 4% growth, that’s the big hope if commercial vehicles actually improve but market conditions are still very tough. So maybe from that quartet of IT, FMCG, pharmaceuticals and autos, the underperformers of last year, autos probably have their weakest case going for them among the underperformers.