According to the figures released by SIAM, domestic passenger car sales had declined by 1.19 per cent to 15, 74,847 units during April-January this fiscal as against 15, 93,850 units in the year-ago period.

According to industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, (SIAM), passenger car sales may decline for the first time in nine years and miss the target of 0-2 per cent growth, set after three revisions, for the 2011-12 fiscal. ''For domestic car sales, if we go ahead with what we are doing at the current rate, then we will miss our target. Car segment is significantly down till now,'' SIAM director-general, Vishnu Mathur, told reporters in Mumbai. According to the figures released by SIAM, domestic passenger car sales had declined by 1.19 per cent to 15, 74,847 units during April-January this fiscal as against 15, 93,850 units in the year-ago period.

''If we do not see a growth of 10-12 per cent in the remaining two months of the fiscal, then we will miss the projected target,'' he said. He added that the industry was not expecting the kind of surge in growth, as deterrent factors like high interest rates were not likely to come down in the near future. Last month, SIAM had lowered the growth forecast for the third time to 0-2 per cent for the ongoing fiscal citing unfavorable macro-economic conditions, however, it could see a jump of 11-13 per cent in 2012-13 fiscal. The last time domestic car sales saw a downtrend was in 2002-03 when sales fell 2.09 per cent to 5,53,022 units from the previous fiscal.