Autos clock 44% YoY rise in Jan total sales

It has been a great ride for the auto sector. All segments of the sector posted strong double-digit numbers with total sales going up by 45%. CNBC-TV18's Swati Khandelawal Jain does some number crunching.

Total sales of all automobile companies are up 44.4% to 11,14,157 units in January, against 7,68,698 units in the same month last year. Passenger car sales are up 32.28% at 1,45,905 units in January from 1,10,300 units year-on-year.

Motorcycle sales are up 43.69% at 6,50,633 units compared to 4,52,809 units. Two-wheeler sales grew by 43.43% to 8,34,383 units from 5,81,729 units in January 2009.

Commercial Vehicles have seen sales surge 131% to 53,447 units from 23,154 units in the year-ago period.

February is expected to be equally good or better as people are buying cars in anticipation of a possible price hike to be announced in the Budget. There is a possibility that excise duty on cars may be hiked.