Maruti sales down 10.3% in January

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), the country's largest car-maker, today reported a 10.3 per cent decline in total sales in January, extending last year's declining trend, on sluggish economic expansion and inflation worries.

Maruti Suzuki sold 1,02,416 units in January this year, against 1,14,205 units sold in the same month last year.

Car sales in India, Asia's third-largest economy, had fallen 9.6 per cent in 2013 - the first time since 2002 - to about 1.8 million vehicles, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Maruti Suzuki said sales of all passenger vehicles, including sport-utility vehicles and vans, fell 7.2 per cent to 2.55 million units, the first drop since 2001.

Domestic sales declined 6.3 per cent to 96,569 units in January 2014 from 1,03,026 units in January 2013, the company said in a statement.

Sales of mini segment cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, declined 17 per cent to 38,565 units from 46,479 units in January 2013.

Sales of the compact vehicles Swift, Estilo, Ritz increased 1.9 per cent to 24,473 units (24,006 units) while a sales of the popular compact sedan Dzire rose 12.7 per cent to 19,232 units, against 17,060 units sold in January 2013.

Sales of mid-sized sedan SX4 registered a decline of 81.1 per cent to 191 units (1,012 units). The premium sedan Kizashi failed to sell any unit during January 2014.

Sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, fell 21.9 per cent to 4,763 units in January this year, against 6,095 units sold in January last year.

Sales of the Omni and Eeco models rose 11.6 per cent to 9,345 units from 8,374 units.

Maruti Suzuki's exports declined 47.7 per cent to 5,847 units in January 2014, from 11,179 units exported in January 2013.

The company had sold a total of 288,151 vehicles in the October-December quarter of the current financial year, a drop of 4.4 per cent over same period last fiscal.

Exports in Q3 of current fiscal were 19,966 units, a drop of 38.6 per cent over Q3 previous year. Sales remained under stress during the period, in both domestic and export markets.

During the period, market share of the company in the domestic market stood at 42.8 per cent a gain of 2.5 per cent over Q3 2012-13.

Net sales (net of excise) for the quarter stood at Rs10,619.7 crore, a fall of 3 per cent over the same period in the previous year.