July Sales: Hatchbacks Lead Sales Slump At Maruti

India's largest carmaker has recorded a sales decline of 35.1 per cent in the domestic market selling 100,006 units of passenger vehicles as compared to the 154,150 units which were sold in the same month a year ago. Maruti Suzuki's cumulative sales in the April to July period stood at 474,487 units which is a slump of 23.2 per cent against 617,990 units which were sold in the same period last year. The sales figures now also include 1796 units of the Baleno premium hatchback which have been supplied to Toyota and are sold as the Glanza through Toyota's dealerships.

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The entry-level mini segment has witnessed the steepest sales decline.

Maruti has witnessed a steep decline in sales across segments, however, the entry-level mini segment took the biggest hit. Sales of models like the Alto and previous-generation WagonR were down by 69.3 per cent at 11,577 units against 37,710 units which were sold in July last year. The compact segment which includes models like the Dzire, Swift, Celerio, new WagonR, Baleno and Ignis recorded a decline of 22.7 per cent at 57,512 units as compared to 74,373 units which were sold a year ago. The utility vehicle (UV) segment which has models like the Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and S-Cross among others recorded a de-growth of 38.1 per cent at 15,178 units as compared to 24,505 units which were sold a year ago. The vans segment recorded a decline of 37.9 per cent selling 9814 units against 15,791 units which were sold in July last year. Surprisingly, sales of the Ciaz mid-size sedan were significantly up selling 2397 units which is a growth of 4893.8 per cent. However, the massive uptick is attributed to the low base of just 48 units which were sold in July last year.

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Maruti Suzuki's sales numbers also include 1796 units of the Baleno which were supplied to Toyota.

The Indian auto market has been under pressure for a year now and automakers have been recording negative sales as the customer sentiments are low. Various economic factors like increase in the input cost resulting into increase in prices, liquidity crunch, low credit availability and one time payment of insurance premium have taken a toll on customer sentiments which in-turn has affected sales. However, carmakers have also been correcting their inventories due to the incoming of the BS6 norms because of which the wholesale numbers are low.