Maruti Suzuki reported a relatively flat showing in November in terms of sales, with domestic passenger vehicles sales only growing by 1.3 per cent. The carmaker reported sales of 1,34,158 units in the domestic market for last month, up from 1,32,395 units in the same period last year. A prime cause for the flat growth was a drop in sales of the company’s small cars, which tumbled from 91,095 units in November 2022 to 74,638 units in November 2023.
Sales in the small car segments remained down as compared to 2022.
As has been the trend in the small car segments, Maruti continued to see lower sales in the Mini and Compact segments as compared to 2022. Sales in the Mini segment were almost halved in November 2023 with combined figures for the Alto and S-Presso amounting to 9,959 units – down from 18,251 units last year. The compact segment, housing models such as the Swift, Dzire and Baleno, having posted a year-on-year growth in October 2023 was back in the negative. Sales in the segment amounted to 64,679 units – down 11.2 per cent from 72,844 units in November 2023.
Sales of the Ciaz too were down from 1,554 units in 2022 to a mere 278 units in November 2023. Combined sales from the three segments stood at 74, 916 units – down from 92,649 units last year.
Utility vehicle segment continued to see strong demand with a 50 per cent sales growth in November 2023.
The Utility Vehicles and Vans segments on the other hand continued to be the main growth drivers. The UV segment, housing models such as the Ertiga, Brezza, Fronx, Grand Vitara and Jimny reported sales of 49,016 units – up 50 per cent from 32,563 units in 2022. The Vans segment (Eeco) meanwhile reported sales of 10,226 units – up from 7,138 units last year.
Sales in the commercial vehicle segment were also relatively down with 2,509 units of the Super Carry sold as against 2,660 units last year. Sales to other OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) meanwhile were marginally up from 4,251 units in 2022 to 4,822 units in 2023.
Exports meanwhile posted a growth of 16.27 per cent.
Larger export portfolio has seen exports grow in November 2023 and in the financial year overall.
Moving to cumulative sales figures, Maruti reported a marginal 3.4 per cent growth over November 2022. Cumulative sales for November 2023 stood at 1,64,439 units as against 1,59,044 units last year.
Moving to the year-to-date figures for FY2024, the year-on-year decline in small car sales stood at 11.13 per cent with 6,61,347 units sold in the Compact and Mini segments – down from 7,44,200 units in FY2023. Sales for the Ciaz too were down – 8,414 units sold in FY2024 as against 10,364 units sold in FY2023.
SUVs were however the major gainers in the current financial year with year-to-date sales of 4,14,631 units – up a notable 82.5 per cent over FY2023. Sales in the van segment meanwhile amounted to 90,920 units – up from 85,554 units.
Cumulative passenger vehicle sales in the financial year in the domestic market stood at 11,75,312 units – up from 10,67,282 units. Overall sales meanwhile stand at 14,13,741 units as compared to 13,11,890 units in the same period last year.
