New Delhi, Oct 1 : India's second largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Thursday said domestic sales grew 24.6 percent to 27,803 units in September from 22,311 units it sold in the corresponding month last year.

"The festive season has been encouraging as customers have returned to the showroom. We hope this will be the turning point for the automotive industry," said Hyundai's senior marketing and sales vice president Arvind Saxena.

"If sales remain strong during Diwali, then we can look at double-digit growth figures for the current year," Saxena added.

Hyundai's total sales last month increased 16.41 percent to 53,804 units against 46,218 units in September last year.

Exports, however, saw a slowdown, growing only 8.75 percent to 26,001 units from 23,907 units in the year-ago period.

"The export market slowed down with the scrappage incentive coming to an end in most European markets," said the car major.

Scrappage incentive is the sop given by several European countries to people for dumping cars that were more than 10 years old and buying new vehicles. For instance, it was 1,000 pounds in Britain, which was supposed to have been matched by a similar amount by the manufacturers, taking the total incentive to 2,000 British pounds.

In September, cumulative sales of Hyundai's A2 segment (Santro, i10, Getz and i20) stood at 49,482 units; A3 (Accent and Verna) at 4,269 units; A5 (Sonata Transform) at 52 units, and SUV segment (Tucson) one unit. (ians)