Maruti Suzuki India reported 11.4 per cent fall in sales in April 2014 at 86,196 units including domestic sales and exports as against 97,302 units at the same time last year. In domestic market MSI registered 79,119 unit sales as compared to 90,523 units in April 2013 posting drop in sales by 12.6 per cent, on the other hand exports grew by 4.4 per cent at 7,077 units indicating marginal rise in demand for MSI cars in overseas market. Mini segment of MSI, which includes Maruti Wagon R, Maruti 800 and Maruti A-Star did not contribute as much towards the monthly sales as company had expected.
Popularity of forenamed cars is declining as last year at the same time sales driven by mini segment hatchbacks were considerably good at 34,927 units as compared to 26,043 units in April 2014 reporting a decline of 25.4 per cent. With new entrants in compact sedan segment like Amaze from Honda and newly launched Hyundai Xcent, sales of Dzire have been hit significantly. Dzire did not find many takes in April 2014 and witnessed drop in sales by 17 per cent at 16,008 units, however at the same time last year MSI sold 19,446 units of Dzire. Sales of SX4 dipped sharply by 87.4 per cent at just 76 units last month as compared to 601 units in April 2013.
Compact car segment that comprise of Maruti Swift, Maruti Estilo, Maruti Ritz and Maruti Celerio grew 9.9 per cent at 23,657 units juxtaposed to 21,535 units in same month last year. Maruti’s UV segment that was thriving solely on the back of Ertiga also witnessed drop in sales by 5.8 per cent at 5011 units compared to 5,318 units sold in the same month corresponding year. Other vehicles in UV segment include Maruti Gypsy and Maruti Grand Vitara, sales contribution from these two SUVs is weak, though Maruti is developing XA Alpha (codename), but there is still no clarity on the launch of the SUV as of now. Van segment too registered drop in sales by 4.3 per cent at 83,22 units as against 8696 units in April 2013.
