Maruti Vitara Brezza and Baleno sell over 17,000 units in May

If the May 2016 results of Maruti Suzuki India are anything to go by, the Vitara Brezza compact SUV and the Baleno premium hatchback are leading the sales pitch for the carmaker, acting as a buffer to slowing sales of the Alto, Wagon R and Swift hatchbacks.

The Vitara Brezza is understood to have clocked sales of around 7,200 units while the Baleno has touched the 10,000 unit mark in the domestic market in May 2016. The Baleno, which was launched in October 2015, crossed the 100,000 booking threshold in March 2016. The Vitara Brezza, Maruti’s first compact SUV, rolled out in March and has had a dream run for the past two months.

As per industry sales data from SIAM, in April, the Vitara Brezza had sold 7,832 units while the Baleno sold 9,562 units.

In May, the carmaker’s utility vehicle segment grew 144.2 percent to 13,596 units as compared to 5,567 units in May 2015 mainly due to the surging demand for the Vitara Brezza. The company’s UV portfolio also includes the Gypsy, Ertiga and S-Cross.

Maruti’s compact hatchback segment in which the Baleno is positioned grew 9.6 percent last month with sales of 46,554 units during the month against 41,926 units sold in May 2015.

In comparison, the mini or entry level category of Maruti (Alto and Wagon R) has been on a decline, dipping 5.6 percent to 33,105 units from the 35,062 units sold in May 2015. The Swift is also seeing its sales slow down, with the competition growing sizeably. These models were earlier frontrunners for Maruti, grossing sales of around 20,000 units a month in better times.

Now with the Baleno and the Vitara Brezza offering higher mileage, new safety features and various engine options, they have caught the pulse of the consumer and are in sync with the changing preferences of the market for styling and quality at an affordable cost.

Both these models have sent the cash registers ringing for Maruti with customers flocking showrooms for bookings. Maruti clearly has been taken by surprise as it had not provisioned for such high production capacities for both the models. This has resulted in the waiting periods for both the Vitara Brezza and the Baleno averaging 7 months with buyers of the compact SUV’s top-end variant having to wait as long as  9 months for delivery.

The delivery of both these models is set to come under further stress with the discontinuation of production at both the Maruti Suzuki plants for the past couple of days – at Gurgaon where the Vitara Brezza is made and Manesar where the Baleno is produced – on account of a fire at a key vendor’s factory.

Maruti Suzuki plants to close for regular maintenance from June 6-11

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki India has advanced the regular bi-annual maintenance closure of its plants, earlier scheduled from June 27 to July 2 to June 6-11. This will enable the closure period to be utilised for arranging supply of components, both from Subros Ltd as well as from other sources, and result in higher production volumes after the closure. 

The carmaker says manufacture of cars, to the extent of component availability, is continuing at the Gurgaon plant from the second half of June 1.