India's largest automaker sells 189,665 units in September, up from 184,727 units year-ago, as record exports and festive demand counterbalance domestic wholesale challenges and persistent utility vehicle segment decline.
01 Oct 2025 | 3520 Views | By Sarthak Mahajan
Maruti Suzuki India Limited reported total sales of 189,665 units in September 2025, marking a 2.7% increase compared to 184,727 units sold in September 2024. The performance reflects a complex market scenario where robust export demand and festive season retail momentum offset challenges in the domestic wholesale segment.
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Maruti Suzuki India Limited reported total sales of 189,665 units in September 2025, marking a 2.7% increase compared to 184,727 units sold in September 2024. The performance reflects a complex market scenario where robust export demand and festive season retail momentum offset challenges in the domestic wholesale segment.
The September figures represent a 5% month-on-month improvement over August 2025, when the automaker sold 180,683 units, signaling recovery as the festive season gained traction.
Export Surge Drives Overall Performance
The standout performer in September was the export segment, which achieved an all-time monthly high of 42,204 units, representing a substantial 52% year-on-year surge from 27,728 units in September 2024. This also marked a 15.5% increase over August's export figure of 36,538 units, underscoring strong international demand for Maruti vehicles.
Domestic Sales Present Mixed Picture
Domestic passenger vehicle sales, however, continued to face headwinds. The company sold 132,820 units in September 2025, down 8.4% from 144,962 units in the year-ago period. This decline extended a challenging trend for the automaker in its home market, though September showed marginal improvement over August's domestic PV sales of 131,278 units.
The utility vehicle segment, which has been a particular concern, saw sales of 48,695 units in September, declining 20.9% from 61,549 units in September 2024. This represents the continuation of a worrying trend, with UV sales having declined 13.8% in August compared to the previous year, highlighting intensifying competition in India's fastest-growing vehicle segment.
The compact segment, which includes popular models like Swift, Baleno, WagonR, Dzire, Celerio, and Ignis, provided relative stability with sales of 66,882 units in September, up 10.6% year-on-year from 60,480 units. However, the mini segment comprising Alto and S-Presso continued its steep decline, with sales falling 30.4% to 7,208 units from 10,363 units in September 2024.
Festive Season Brightens Retail Outlook
Despite wholesale constraints, the company reported encouraging retail momentum during the ongoing Navratri festive period. Maruti Suzuki achieved its highest-ever deliveries of 165,000 units in the first eight days of the festive season, suggesting improved consumer sentiment following GST reforms.
"The GST reform has significantly improved the customer sentiment as reflected in the highest-ever deliveries," the company stated in its press release, adding that "the domestic wholesale figure for the month should be seen in the context of logistical constraint towards the last part of the month."
Light Commercial Vehicles and OEM Sales
The light commercial vehicle segment showed marginal decline, with Super Carry sales at 2,891 units in September compared to 3,099 units in the year-ago period. Sales to other original equipment manufacturers remained robust at 11,750 units, up 31.5% from 8,938 units in September 2024.
First Half Performance
For the April-September period of fiscal year 2025-26, Maruti Suzuki's total sales reached 1,078,735 units, up 1.4% from 1,063,418 units in the same period last year. However, domestic passenger vehicle sales for the half-year stood at 795,446 units, down 5.8% from 844,614 units, while exports surged 40% to 207,459 units from 148,276 units.
The mixed performance highlights the challenges facing India's automotive leader as it navigates intense competition in the UV segment, shifting consumer preferences, and market dynamics in both domestic and international markets. The strong festive season retail performance and record exports provide reasons for optimism, even as domestic wholesale volumes remain under pressure.