New Delhi, March 10 (IANS): Sale of domestic passenger cars grew marginally by 1.39 percent in February, industry data showed Monday.

Data furnished Monday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed that 217,749 units were sold in the month under review as against an offtake of 226,483 units in the corresponding period of 2013.

According to SIAM, the recent excise duty cut and the Auto Expo have created positive sentiment but it was too early to say if that can translate into sustained automobile sales trend.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, in the interim budget 2014-15, reduced the central excise on small cars, scooters/two-wheelers from 12 to 8 percent.

He also reduced the central excise from 30 percent to 24 percent on SUVs (sports utility vehicle), and medium segment sedans from 27-24 percent to 24-20 percent, respectively.

The data also showed that utility vehicles sales fell by 9.09 percent at 43,507 units from 47,859 units sold in the corresponding period of 2012.

Domestic sales of vans fell by 32.76 percent at 13,524 units from 20,112 units off-take in February, last year.

Total passenger vehicle sales which includes, cars, utility vehicles and vans in the month under review went down by 3.86 percent at 217,749 units from an off-take of 226,483 units in February 2013.

For last month, SIAM reported a 23.96 percent decline in sales of heavy, medium and light commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) which are a key indicator of economic activity. Sales stood at 16,372 units from 21,530 units in the corresponding month of last year.

Three-wheeler sales slumped by by 13.99 units at 37,950 units from 44,123 units sold in February 2013.

However, total two-wheeler sales in the month under review grew by 9.69 percent at 1,220,012 units from 1,112,269 units sold in the corresponding month of 2013.

Total motorcycle sales increased by 5.39 percent at 843,307 units from an off-take of 800,165 units in February last year.

Scooter segment sales in the month under review zoomed by 28.19 percent at 311,957 units from 243,346 units sold in the corresponding period of last year.

Total exports for the month went up by 7.27 percent at 270,110 units from 251,805 units being shipped out.

Total vehicle sales in February fell 4.99 percent at 1,523,693 units from 1,451,263 units sold in the corresponding month of last year.