Maruti Suzuki sales fall amid prolonged market slowdown
Amid one of the worst slowdowns in the Indian auto industry, Maruti Suzuki, the biggest automaker of the country, has reported poor vehicle sales, again! The company recently revealed sales data for February 2020, confirming that it has sold even fewer cars than what was reported for the same period last year. Here's all you need to know about it.
Domestic sales decline by nearly 4%
In a regulatory filing on March 1, Maruti Suzuki said that its sales for the month of February 2020 declined by 3.6%, as compared to the same period last year. The company noted that it had sold a total of 139,100 vehicles in the country in February 2019, but a year later, that number fell to 134,150.
Compact segment car sales dipped significantly
The decline in domestic sales can be largely attributed to the fall in the sales of compact cars like WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire, and Tour S. According to the company filing, the whole category witnessed a decline of 3.9%, selling just 69,828 units in February 2020, in comparison to 72,678 units sold during the same period a year ago.
Sedan sales also plummeted
Along with the compact category, sedan sales have also declined for Maruti. The biggest contributor to this fall was Ciaz; only 2,544 units of the car were sold in February 2020 - a steep 17.5% decline from a year ago when 3,084 units were sold. Notably, the sales of Eeco and commercial vehicle Super Carry have also plummeted by 22.9% and 79.5%, respectively.
SUVs and mini category showed signs of growth
Despite the overall downfall, there were some signs of positive growth. For instance, the Mini segment with vehicles like Alto and S-Presso grew by 11.1%, selling 27,499 units as compared to 24,751 units in the same period last year. This was also the case for the utility vehicle category, which recorded an uptick of 3.5% over the last year.
Exports also went up for Maruti Suzuki
Along with domestic sales of select vehicles, the exports also ended on the higher side for Maruti Suzuki. The company exported as many as 10,261 units throughout February 2020, witnessing a 7.1% increase over the same period last year when just 9,582 units were shipped.
