Maruti Suzuki posts 20.8% rise in December sales

Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest car-maker, today reported a 20.8 per cent increase in total sales for December at 109,791 units, against 90,924 units sold in the same month last year.

Following the release of the strong sales numbers, shares of Maruti were trading 0.50 per cent higher at Rs3,344 in an otherwise weak general market.

The company said its domestic sales increased by 13.3 per cent during the month to 98,109 units as against 86,613 units in December 2013.

Exports during the month rose nearly three-fold to 11,682 units compared with 4,311 units exported in December last year, MSI said in a statement.

Sales of mini segment cars, including, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, declined by 9.6 per cent to 34,625 units as compared to 38,286 units in the year-ago month, the statement said.

Sales of the compact segment cars comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire rose 23 per cent to 41,532 units in December this year as against 33,766 units last year, the company said in a statement.

Sales of compact sedan Dzire Tour surged over two-fold during the month under review to 1,676 units as against 832 units sold in December 2013.

The company sold 3,731 units of its mid-sized sedan Ciaz, which was launched in October. It had sold 271 units of SX4 sedan in December 2013. There was no sale of premium sedan Kizashi during the month.

Sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, rose by 12.2 per cent to 5,774 units in December this year from 5146 units in the corresponding month last year.

Sales of the vans Omni and Eeco rose 29.6 per cent to 10,771 units in December this year compared to 8,312 units in the same period of the previous year.