If January 2017’s sales growth of 25.7 percent for Maruti Suzuki India was an indicator, then the country’s largest carmaker is putting pedal to the metal this year.

Armed with new manufacturing capacity in the form of the new Gujarat plant, which went on stream on February 1, Maruti Suzuki, which has a 47.65 percent market share in passenger vehicles and 52.27 percent in passenger cars, is pulling out all stops to increase its stranglehold on the domestic market.  

In February 2017, the month with fewer days, the carmaker sold a total of 120,599 units in the domestic market, a year-on-year growth of 11.7 percent (February 2016: 108,115).

The entry level, bread-and-butter duo of the Alto and Wagon R, sold 33,079 units in February 2017 (February 2016: 35,495), down 6.8 percent YoY. Sales of the six compact cars comprising the Swift, Ritz, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire posted 9.4 percent growth at 47,002 units (February 2016: 42,970). The Dzire Tour, which is sold only as a taxi, sold 2,574 units, down 26.9 percent (February 2016: 3,522).

The Ciaz premium sedan, which is now to be sold from the premium Nexa channel, went home to 5,886 buyers, up 14 percent (February 2016: 5,162). The two vans – Omni and Eeco – continue to give a fillip to overall sales numbers with sales of 14,195 units, up 13.7 percent (February 2016: 12,482).

Where Maruti is stretching the lead versus its competitors is in the UV segment. As a result of continuously surging sales of the Vitara Brezza, the company is driving a new growth paradigm in the segment. Its total UV sales (Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza) zoomed 110.5 percent YoY to 17,863 units (February 2016: 8,484), the handsome rise thanks to the Vitara Brezza compact SUV which has crossed the 100,000 units sales mark in less than a year after launch on March 8, 2016.

Also read: Maruti Vitara Brezza rides UV wave to cross 100,000 sales in less than a year 

Maruti streamlines India model line-up