For the past two years or so, Tata Motors had been trying every little trick in its kitty to dislodge the Korean car manufacturer, Hyundai Motors India, from the second spot in monthly domestic passenger vehicle sales in India. And finally, the June sales gift wrapped and delivered the much sought after position to Tata Motors. And the Indian car manufacturer has achieved this feat with the dramatic increase in sales of the Nano, after the inauguration of the Sanand plant in Gujarat, and the sales of the Indigo range.

Tata Motor’s domestic sales surged by 63.2 per cent in June, with the company selling 27,811 units, when compared to 17,039 units sold in the same month last year. Hyundai India saw a growth in its June sales (18.9 per cent) too, without much help though.

The tiny Tata Nano contributed significantly to Tata’s total sales in June. Nano sales more than doubled from an average of 3,500 units in recent months to 7,704 in June. The Indigo range witnessed great sales in June too, and sold about 7,502 units, a growth of 113 per cent over June last year, when 3,522 units were sold.

A Tata Motors’ spokesperson said: “Going forward, our expectation would be to maintain the No 2 position in the industry.”

Industry analysts are of the view that Tata would be able to maintain its growth in sales. “The newly-created Nano segment has huge opportunities and, therefore, Tata Motors is likely to sustain its numbers because of the higher volumes it will generate,” said Abdul Majeed, national head of automotive practice in PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Hyundai executives are miffed about the current scenario, and are heard saying that Hyundai makes only passenger cars, unlike Tata which makes utility vehicles such as Sumo. And hence, the comparison should be limited to only within the former category, where Hyundai stills rules at no. 2.

Others, however, are skeptical of Tata lead. “While Nano numbers are the pre-sold orders and the company is only accelerating the deliveries from its new plant, we need to wait and watch for at least a quarter to see if it is sustainable.

Moreover, Tata’s will need more products in the passenger car category to remain ahead of Hyundai in the long run,” said Rakesh Batra, national head (automotive practice), Ernst & Young. Additionally, Hyundai is planning to launch a small sub-Santro car, which will stand face to face with the Tata Nano. The launch date of the car has not been revealed yet.

Owing to the new car launches that we have witnessed in the past few months, the overall passenger vehicles’ market continued its steady growth. June 2010 saw total sales of 176,920 units as compared to the 139,490 units sold in the same month last year.

Invincible Maruti Suzuki continued to be top seller, with total sales of 72,812 units. “The growth in June is extremely high as you must remember the base was very high last year in June,” said R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki. “The fundamentals of the economy are good and demand is picking up on the back of new models. The industry is expecting an annual growth of 12 per cent in 2010-11”.

The new car launches by many of the companies have brought them the volume numbers. General Motors India witnessed sales growth of 112 per cent in June, courtesy the new Chevrolet Beat, which sold 3,415 units.