Car Sales May 2022: Maruti Suzuki Sells 161,413 Units As Volumes Decline Month-On-Month

Maruti Suzuki India reported its sales wholesales for May 2022 and the company sold 161,413 units (domestic + exports). The automaker registered a healthy growth of nearly 247 per cent year-on-year when compared to 46,555 units sold in May 2021. However, do note that sales last year were due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which makes for the massive growth numbers. With respect to month-on-month sales, the company registered a decline of five per cent with 170,395 units sold in April 2022. Maruti Suzuki's domestic sales stood at 128,000 units in May 2022, while exports stood at 27,191 units. With the monthly sales down, Maruti Suzuki attributed the decline to the shortage of electronic components that had "a minor impact on the production of vehicles, mainly the domestic models."

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In the A-Mini segment, Maruti's wholesales stood at 17,408 units of the Alto and S-Presso, while the company sold 67,947 units of the Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, Swift, WagonR and Tour S. Sales of the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz stood at 586 units, while utility vehicle sales remained strong at 28,051 units with the Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza and the XL6 bringing the volumes. Maruti sold 10,482 units of the Eeco van last month. Lastly, 3,526 units of the Super Carry LCV were sold last month. The carmaker also revealed that 6,222 units of the Glanza and Urban Cruiser were sold to Toyota as part of the Suzuki-Maruti partnership.

The entry-level and mid-size vehicles make the biggest contribution to Maruti's volumes followed by utility vehicles

With sales still on the road to recovery, Maruti recently urged the government to reconsider making six airbags mandatory on small cars. The company said that the new norm would further shrink the small car market and may even impact jobs in the auto sector in the future. The entry-level hatchback space is cost sensitive and has already been under pressure over the last three years.

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The rising cost of raw materials and other components has significantly increased prices for most cars. Vehicles also saw a major revision with the BS6 emission norms in April 2020, which brought significant price increments to all vehicles. Most of the hikes were passed on to customers, making even the entry-level cars substantially more expensive. Maruti said that this would make it difficult for those wanting to upgrade to a car from a two-wheeler. Cars are expected to get more expensive by Rs. 20,000-25,000 with the addition of six airbags. The Maruti range currently begins from Rs. 3.39 lakh (ex-showroom) for the Alto 800.