The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has witnessed a 19 per cent increase in sales aided by robust sales performance in its compact segment during May 2014 compared to the same month a year ago.
The company did well not only in the passenger car segment but also in the utility vehicles and van segments which helped lift the sales beyond the 1,00,000 mark.
In its filings with the stock exchanges, Maruti reported that in the mini segment with M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR models, the company posted sales of 29,068 vehicles during May 2014 compared with 31,427 vehicles in May last year, a decline of 7.5 per cent.
Compact segment
But the compact segment, where Maruti has Swift, Estilo, Ritz and Celerio models, recorded a 53.9 per cent jump in sales to 26,394 units in May this year compared with 17,147 vehicles during May 2013.
In the super compact segment which is witnessing increasing competition, Maruti, with its Dzire model, registered a 9.8 per cent growth in sales to 18,953 units (17,265 units).
Mid-size cars
However, sales in mid-size car segment crashed by nearly 76 per cent with its SX4 model selling just 121 units in May this year against 503 units during the same month last year. Total sales in the passenger car segment grew 12.4 per cent to 74,536 vehicles from 66,342 vehicles.
Utility vehicles
In the utility vehicles segment (Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga), sales increased 22 per cent to 5,253 units in May this year (4,307 units in the same month in 2013) and sales of vans with Omni and Eeco models, zoomed 50.2 per cent to 10,771 units ( 7,172 vehicles).
While the domestic sales increased 16.4 per cent in May this year to 90,560 units from 77,821 units in May 2013, exports jumped by 51.2 per cent to 10,365 units from 6,856 units.
Total sales
Total sales (domestic and exports) crossed the 1 lakh mark in May this year to 1,00,925 units against 84, 677 units in May last year, an increase of 19.2 per cent.
Shares of Maruti were trading at Rs 2,322.85, up by Rs 51.05, on the NSE.