Maruti Suzuki headed for record sales, nears the 900,000 units mark in first-half FY2018

Maruti Suzuki India has announced its sales for September 2017. What’s apparent is that the company looks well set to notch its best-ever sales for a fiscal year.

In the first six months of FY2017-18 (April-September 2017), the country’s largest carmaker has sold a total of 886,689 units (+15.6%), comprising 825,832 domestic sales (+17.1%) and 60,857 export (-1.1%).

In FY2017, the company had sold a total of 1,568,603 units. Given the current pace of its sales in the domestic market, Maruti should easily surpass this number. As is known, the company is gunning for 2 million sales annually by the year 2020. And it has 2.5 million sales in its crosshairs by FY2023.

Let’s take a closer look at how the company fared in the domestic market in September 2017. Compared to July 2017 (153,298 units / +21.9%) and August 2017 (151,270 units / +26.2%), September 2017 PV sales of 150,521 units (+9.6%) are muted by the carmaker’s high standards but there’s no denying the fact that the company’s stranglehold on the market remains firm.

Other than for the entry-level hatchback duo of the Alto and Wagon R, which sold 38,479 units, down -13.3% (September 2016: 44,395) and the premium Ciaz sedan at 5,603 units (-14,4% / September 2016: 6,544), sales for other segments are all up. The Ciaz had clocked its best-ever monthly sales in April 2017 (7,024).

Demand for the five compact cars (Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire) rose smartly by 44.7% year on year to 72,804 units (September 2016: 50,324), reflective of the surging demand for the premium Baleno hatchback and the new Dzire sedan.

While the Baleno, the largest of the company’s hatchbacks which comes with ABS and dual airbags as standard across the 11-variant range, continues to draw buyers, the big surprise has been the spurt in demand for the Dzire which had notched its best-ever monthly sales – 26,140 units (comprising 14,083 diesel and 12,057 petrol)) in August 2017. The Dzire, for long, has played second fiddle to the Maruti Alto, the longstanding No. 1 machine, and sometimes to the Swift. Expect the Dzire to have done well in September too and contributed a large share to overall numbers.

Total sales of Maruti passenger cars in September were 116,886 (+11.1%) over the 105,236 units sold a year ago.

UV sales slow down
Sales of Maruti Suzuki’s utility vehicles – Gypsy, Ertiga, Vitara Brezza and S-Cross – surprisingly have slowed down: at 19,900 units (+8.0% / September 2016: 18,423). Expect the Maruti Vitara Brezza, which notched its best-ever monthly sales of 15,243 units in July 2017 and 14,396 units in August 2017, to have contributed the bulk of the UV numbers.

However, going forward, the Brezza will have to contend with the Nexon, Tata Motors’ first-ever compact SUV and possibly its first strong challenger. The compact SUV battle for the consumer just turned a lot more exciting.  

Bringing up the rear are the two vans, the Omni and the Eeco which together sold 13,735 units, making for flat sales of 0.9% (September 2016: 13,618).

Car and UV sales put together add up to a total of 150,521 units (+9.6%) sold in the domestic market last month. Maruti Suzuki, which launched the facelifted S-Cross premium hatchback at a starting price of Rs 849,000 today, will be looking to make the most of the ongoing festive season and ensuring its expansive dealer network across the country is well stocked, particularly with much-in-demand models.   

 
 

Also read: Maruti Suzuki targets 2.5m sales by 2022-23