Latest figures says that Telco sold 5,155 heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs) and 4,062 light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in November, against 3,891 HCVs and 2,738 LCVs sold during October in the same year, according to figures issued by the Association of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM).

However, the country's largest car maker Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) suffered an 18 per cent drop in November over the previous month. Maruti sold 19,738 vehicles in the month, against 24,338 cars in October, AIAM figures said.

Bajaj Auto also felt the effects of the recession in the month as the company's scooter sales recorded a negative growth of 6.9 per cent. Bajaj sold 44,344 scooters in November, against 47,663 scooters in October.

Although November provided a much needed reprieve for many auto makers, going by the sales recordin April-November, it is clear that the days of recession are yet to be over for the country's automobile industry.

All luxury car makers continued to suffer massive drop in sales during the period and more significantly, the total passenger car market started showing signs of lethargy in the nine months of the current fiscal.

The passenger car segment as a whole recorded a negative growth of 3.08 per cent during April-November, against the same period last year, the AIAM figures indicated.

This can be mainly ascribed to the protracted dismal performance of the luxury cars makers General Motors (GM), Mahindra Ford and Daewoo Motors.

GM sales dipped 62.73 per cent during the period to 2,441 cars, against 6,550 cars it sold last year. Mahindra Ford also registered a 53 per cent drop in sales during the period.

While Daewoo Motors recorded an 18 per cent drop in sales, the country's oldest car makers Hindustan Motors and Premier Automobiles suffered drops to the tune of 14 per cent and 72 per centrespectively.

The nine-month period's track record is not impressive for Telco's car division either as the company suffered a loss of 56.5 per cent during the period.

But newcomers Hyundai and Honda sold 4,567 and 6,367 cars in the same period. In fact, Honda bettered sales of its Sedan `City' in November by 169 cars over 554 cars in October.

Sales of Ind Auto which makes the Fiat Uno was also up in November thanks to the impressive performance of the car's diesel version. Ind Auto sold 648 cars in November vis-a-vis 612 cars in Ocotber. Overall sales of Ind Auto in the current fiscal stood at 5,842 units.