Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), the largest car maker in India, has recorded growth of 6.5 percent in its February sales. Compared to 111,645 units sales in February 2011, the car maker sold 118,949 units, during the same period of the current year. The domestic sales of the company also increased at a slow pace in January, by 0.6 per cent. As far as domestic sales for the month of February are concerned, the company recorded a growth of 6 per cent at 107, 653 units from 101,543 units in the same period of 2011.
During February, the exports of MSIL also increased by 11.8 per cent as the company shipped 11,296 units against 10,102 units of the corresponding month last year. The car maker felt the heat of increased interest rates and petrol price rise in the past few months. Hence, it is expected that the increased sales will provide some relief to Maruti. Another reason for the lower sales of Maruti is its inability to meet the required demand of diesel vehicles in the country.
As far as entry level hatchback segment of the company is concerned, the sales of Wagon-R, Maruti 800, Alto, and A-Star faced a downfall of 8.2 per cent in February 2012. Compared to 53,515 units sold in last February, the company managed to sell 49,104 units this fiscal.
However, the sales in middle hatchback segment increased by 31.1 per cent in February 2012, pushing it to 27,899 units from 21,287 units in the same period last year. The medium hatchback segment of MSIL comprises models like Estilo, Swift, and Ritz, which have attained huge success in India.
58.8 percent growth has been registered in the sales of Swift Dzire as the company sold 15,068 units. However, 42.5 percent downfall has been reported in the sales of SX4 as only 2,033 units were sold by the car maker. The consolidated sales of MSIL fell by 12.3 percent as 1,007,743 units were sold this fiscal against 1,149,053 units in the same period of 2010-2011.
