MUMBAI, India (AP)

India's auto sales surged 71.9 per cent in November from a year earlier to 207,500 vehicles, thanks to poor sales this time last year and robust consumer spending.

Sales of passenger cars rose 60.8 per cent to 133,687 units while commercial vehicle sales nearly doubled to 40,847 vehicles, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group, said last week. Sales of other passenger vehicles, like utility vehicles, rose 94.5 per cent, to 32,966 units.

The surge is also a sign of how the Indian consumer, encouraged by government tax cuts, a big disbursement of back pay for government employees and falling interest rates, is fuelling economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

In the September quarter, India's gross domestic product grew a better-than-expected 7.9 per cent, its fastest in a year and a half.

Last November, India's auto sector was struggling with the fallout of the global financial crisis, which helped drive economic growth to its lowest in six years. Auto sales began to recover in February, thanks to government stimulus spending and early signs of an economic turnaround.

"The low base of last year resulted in strong year over year growth for most players," Macquarie Securities analyst Sanjay Doshi wrote in a research note. "More important, demand remains strong in the passenger vehicle space, even after the festive season and the commercial vehicle recovery appears to be gathering momentum."

Hyundai, India's largest car exporter, reported its highest ever monthly sales in November. Domestic sales shot up 92.8 per cent to 28,162 vehicles even as exports declined 4.6 per cent to 27,103 vehicles.

rising sales

Market leader Maruti Suzuki clocked 61.6 per cent growth in domestic sales to 76,106 vehicles, and a 128.6 per cent surge in exports to 11,448 vehicles, thanks to rising sales of its A-Star model in Europe.

Compared to November 2007, when Indian automakers were not struggling with what Maruti executives call their "worst-ever slowdown," domestic sales were up 17.1 per cent for the month.

Domestic sales at Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker, which also owns Jaguar and Land Rover, rose 64 per cent to 50,114 vehicles, while exports grew 87 per cent, to 3,994 vehicles, the company said.

Overall auto exports from India rose 20.1 per cent, with car exports up 15.0 per cent to 39,786 vehicles and commercial vehicle exports up 76.9 per cent to 4,845 vehicles.

India has weathered the global slump in auto sales better than most. Global auto majors like Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Nissan Motor Co. and, most recently, China's Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp are making significant investments in India, as they try to capture a piece of the fast-growing market.

JD Power forecasts that car sales in India will grow from 1.7 million in 2008 to 3.2 million in 2015, while car sales in China will surge from 8.8 million to 16.0 million over the same period.