The car market in India's western Gujarat state has been booming in the last few months as more than 1,800 cars have been sold in Rajkot city itself.

Automobile dealers say that they are happy with the record sales, and impute the trend to the festival season.

"The business has been good since this financial year. As far as I think, in the last 10 years we have not seen such a market. If we talk about last month then we have sold approximately 1,800 plus vehicles as against 775 last year," said Rajni Patel, owner of an automobile dealership.

The sales figure has doubled against all monthly figures of the last decade.

Small and medium cars received the highest number of customers.

"Last month, Gujarat broke all the retail records, especially Maruti Suzuki sold 10,000 cars in Gujarat. The reasons are that the market has been very good. Rains have been good and rural penetration has been good, especially in Saurashtra region. In Gujarat, the Sensex has crossed 21,000 mark and also the increment in salaries of government employees, and the perks that they have got. Their buying capacity has increased. All these factors contributed to the good car market," said Vikas Gehlot, General Manager or a car dealership.

Rains in the region have also contributed to the spending capacity of locals.

The year 2008-2009 was bad for the automobile industry due to economic recession but most markets have come out of that situation.

On the first day of Navratri, Ford sold 111 cars in a day.

The dealers also say that the increase in car sales is also due to the living standards of people.

Most say car dealers say that they are hopeful of such a market in the coming months.