Maruti's sales rises by 20.3 percent in June 2012

Maruti Suzuki reported a 20.3 per cent increase in sales, including exports, at 96,597 vehicles in June 2012 from 80,298 units sold in the corresponding month of last year.
 

Domestic sales grew 19.3 per cent in the month under review at 83,531 units from 70,020 units sold in June 2011. Exports rose 27.1 per cent at 13,066 units as against 10,278 units shipped out in the corresponding period of 2011. The total passenger cars sales in June increased by 23.1 per cent at 70,977 units from 57,653 units sold in the corresponding month of last year.
 

Segment-wise, however, sales of the company's entry level hatchback brands like M800, Alto, A-Star and Wagon R declined by 10.4 per cent at 34,198 units from 38,183 units sold in the same period of 2011. This is a worrying trend since this particular segment has been Maruti Suzuki's strength and the company needs to think about where they have gone wrong. Perhaps, introducing diesel models in this segment could do the trick, since this segment has exclusively petrol-powered models and the recent surge in petrol prices seems to be putting off buyers.

Sales of mid-size passenger car SX4 also declined by 42.8 per cent with 408 units sold during the month under review as compared to 713 against the same period the previous year. The compact brands like Swift, Estilo and Ritz had a healthy sales growth of 39.3 per cent in June 2012 at 22,624 units from 16,239 units sold in June 2011.

Super compact car DZire too posted a 452.7 per cent growth at 13,741 units from 2,486 units sold in the corresponding period of last year. Sales of vans like Omni and Eeco stood at 6,916 units, down by 43.2 per cent from the same month last year.

However, Muruti Sukuzi can surely has reasons to cheer with a stupendous performance in the utility vehicle segment registering spectacular growth of 2948 per cent and leading the charge in this segment is none other than the newest kid in Maruti's stable - the Ertiga. In fact, it will be fair to say that the Maruti Ertiga has eaten into SX4's market share. Quite naturally, for a similar price range, the bigger and spacious Ertiga is a more attractive and value-for-money proposition for the Indian customers. Utility vehicles like Grand Vitara, Gypsy and Ertiga sales stood at 5,638 units in comparison to 185 units sold last year in the month of June.