In November 1999, Ikon received a total of 5360 orders. Order-taking for the car opened on November 3 and deliveries commenced in the last week of the month. Maruti sold 1602 units of Esteem during the period while the Korean giant Hyundai sold 1019 units of Accent.

Ford India managing director Philip G Spender said the December sales reflect the consumer interest in the car.

Ford's commitment, a statement issued here on Monday said, is embodied in its present Rs 1,700 crore investment. Meanwhile, Daewoo Motors India Ltd has recorded a 220 per cent surge in demand for its passenger cars-Matiz, Cielo and Nexia-during December 1999, having booked a total order for 6,398 units. Of this, Matiz accounted for 6180 units, a statement said. In December, DMIL dispatched 3827 units of Matiz and exported 225 units of the car. Local dispatches for the month of all Daewoo cars totalled 4045 units, up 238 per cent from the same period last year. DMIL managing director SG Awasthi said December order reflects the customer acceptance of the 796cc small car.

Tata Engineering sold 5320 units till December 1999, company announced in a news release here on Monday.

According to the release, Indica sales, at 5,320 numbers, continued to grow in December with Tata Engineering surpassing its previous highest monthly sale for November 5,214 cars. This has helped the indica emerge as the second lagest selling car in its category for the month of December.

The cumulative sales for the Indica stood at 38,729 numbers since launch and a sale of 36,583 in the first nine months of the current financial year. The Indica has achieved a market share of 7.9 per cent of the total passenger car market in the first 8 months of the current financial year (April-November 1999) and 18.1 per cent of cars in its class, the release said.