Maruti Suzuki reports small 1.3% rise in July sales

Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest car-maker by sales, today reported a small 1.3 per cent increase in total sales in July at 83,299 units as against 82,234 units in the same month last year.

The company's domestic sales grew by 5.8 per cent during the month to 75,145 units as against 71,024 units in July last year.

Sales in Maruti's bread-and-butter segment of small cars, including the M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, grew by 15.8 per cent to 33,587 units as compared to 28,998 in the year-ago month, Maruti Suzuki said in a statement.

However, sales in the compact segment comprising the Swift, Estilo, and Ritz models were down by 11.9 per cent to 13,882 in July this year as against 15,759 units last year.

On the other hand, Maruti said its popular compact sedan Dzire posted a 33.6 per cent sales growth during the month at 15,249 units as against 11,413 units in July 2012.

But the company's mid-sized sedan SX4 registered a dip of 52.6 per cent to 322 units as against 679 units in the same month last year.

Not a single unit of the premium sedan Kizashi was sold during the month, underlining the fact that it has proved a drug on the market.

Sales of utility vehicles, including the Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, stood at 4,562 units in July this year, down 37.5 per cent from 7,294 units in the corresponding month last year.

Exports during the month were down 27.3 per cent to 8,154 units as compared to 11,210 units in July last year, Maruti Suzuki said.