New Delhi, May 9: Domestic car sales rose around 2 per cent in April, snapping a three-month declining streak, as buyer sentiment improved on the back of the launch of models such as the Maruti Baleno and Renault Kwid.

Passenger car sales stood at 1,62,566 units in April against 1,59,588 units in the same month last year, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) showed.

"If we talk only about cars, then growth during the last month largely came from new launches such as the Baleno and the Kwid," Siam director-general Vishnu Mathur said.

"If we see the total passenger vehicle segment, it has grown over 11 per cent. It is mainly because of the robust growth of utility vehicles such as the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Vitara Brezza and Mahindra's KUV100," he added.

Total passenger vehicle sales rose 11.04 per cent to 2,42,060 units from 2,17,989 units in April 2015. Sales of utility vehicles grew 42.82 per cent. The segment has been growing since October, Mathur said.

"Growth in all segments in April is a very positive trend for the Indian automotive industry. Hopefully, uncertainty relating to diesel vehicles will also get resolved soon. If incentives are offered to replace the old vehicles, it will give further boost to the demand," said Abdul Majeed, partner, Price Waterhouse.

However, he said it would be challenging to maintain the overall growth in the automotive sector if monsoon failed and uncertainty regarding diesel vehicles continued.

Maruti Suzuki India's sales rose 2.72 per cent to 86,481 units from 84,188 units a year ago.

Rival Hyundai Motor India saw a decline of 10.52 per cent in sales at 34,425 units against 38,474 units last year.

Honda Cars India's sales fell 20.12 per cent to 9,499 units from 11,892 units in April last year.