Car sales surged by a robust 32.4 per cent in the first month of this fiscal with Maruti and Tata Motors fuelling the growth.

A total 56,272 units were sold in April 2004 over 42,499 units in the same month last year, data compiled by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed on Friday.

Commercial vehicle sales, one of the yardsticks to gauge economic growth, went up by an impressive 66.8 per cent at 19,784 units in the review month over 11,855 units in April 2003.

Two-wheeler sales in the domestic market, the second-biggest after China, grew by 16.4 per cent at 441,000 units as motorcycles and step-throughs posted a rise of 14.5 per cent to 348,000 units.

Scooter and scooterette sales registered a hefty growth of 28.3 per cent at 71,306 units.

Utility vehicle sales, which have been on a northward drive, grew by 45.2 per cent at 12,372 units while multi purpose vehicles rose 21.4 per cent at 4,828 units.

Three-wheeler sales climbed 46.7 per cent to 18,347 units.

Car sales in the country have been soaring with readily available low-interest loans, rise in disposable income and launch of an array of models.

India witnessed a car boom during 2003-04 with sales, including exports, crossing one million mark.

Market leader Maruti Udyog posted a whopping 48.4 per cent rise at 31,706 units while the second-biggest carmaker Hyundai Motor India suffered a loss of 37.3 per cent at 5,667 units.

The Hyundai plant was shut for a couple of days last month for annual maintenance, which led to a dip of 37.3 per cent.

Indigenous carmaker Tata Motors registered a jump of 52.6 per cent to 9,974 units.

Sales of Honda Siel Cars India went up by 117.3 per cent to 2,793 units due to growing sales of its premium mid-size sedan 'New City'.

The Indian arm of the world's biggest automaker General Motors India witnessed a rise of 78.7 per cent to 1,387 units while CK Birla group company Hindustan Motors registered a marginal growth of 1.17 per cent to 1,032 units.

Sales of the local unit of the second-biggest US carmaker Ford India grew by 65.8 per cent at 1,695 units.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors sold 814 units in April 2004, a rise of 24.6 per cent over the same month last year.

Volkswagen group company Skoda Auto India sold 501 cars. Slumping sales of Fiat India resulted in a loss of 18.6 per cent at 601 units.

Luxury carmaker DaimlerChrysler clocked a 70 per cent jump at 102 units.

In the utility vehicle segment, market leader Mahindra and Mahindra sold 6,112 SUVs, a growth of 27.8 per cent.

Sales of Toyota Kirloskar Motor grew by 93.6 per cent to 3,327 units while Tata Motors posted a jump of 43.3 per cent to 2,002 units.