Maruti Suzuki, which commands over half of the market share in the Indian car market has seen a significant impact on the overall passenger vehicle sales since the beginning of 2019. Maruti's sales have remained under pressure since the beginning of the year and in April it witnessed a drastic decline of 19.6 per cent in the domestic market selling 133,704 units against 164,978 units which were sold in the same period last year.
Also Read: Car Sales April 2019: Maruti Suzuki PV Sales Down By 19.6 Per Cent
The substantial decline in sales has been reported after the company continued to record marginal growth for the last three months. In January 2019, it recorded a growth of 1.1 per cent selling 142,150 units as compared to 140,600 units in the same month last year. Sales were down by 0.2 per cent in February 2019 when it sold 136,912 units against 136,648 units in the corresponding month last year. In March, the company's sales declined by 1.5 per cent, selling 145,031 units against 147,170 units which it sold in the corresponding month last year.
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The Utility Vehicle segment witnessed a relatively tepid growth of 5.9 Per Cent selling 22,035 units.Also Read: Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Petrol To Be Launched This Fiscal Year
In the previous quarter, the entry-level segment underperformed reporting a negative growth throughout the quarter, however, the company's compact vehicles and utility vehicles reported decent numbers. That said, in April the compact vehicle segment which sells models like the new WagonR, Alto K10, Swift, Dzire, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and the Tour S also witnessed a decline of 13.9 per cent selling 72,146 units. The Utility Vehicle segment witnessed a relatively tepid growth of 5.9 per cent selling 22,035 units of the Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and the S-Cross. The sales of the Ciaz continue the downward spiral with the company selling just 2789 units in April 2019 which is a decline of a whopping 45.5 per cent.
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Maruti Suzuki in its last quarter result had mentioned that the sales were down due to challenging market conditions. The auto industry has seen several disruptions in the face of new policies and the prices of commodities too have increased due to which major carmakers have announced price hikes twice in the last financial year.
