Maruti Suzuki records robust sales in August: 151,270 (+26.2%)

Maruti Suzuki India, which posted its highest-ever monthly sales in July 2017 (153,298 units / +21.9%), has clocked another month of robust sales.

In August 2017, the carmaker sold a total of 151,270 units (+26.2%), showing that there’s little the competition can do to impact the company’s stranglehold on the domestic market.

Other than flat sales for the entry-level hatchback duo of the Alto and Wagon R, which sold 35,428 units, down 0.2% (August 2016: 35,490), overall numbers for other segments are all up. Demand for the five compact cars (Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire) soared 62.4% to 74,012 units (August 2016: 45,579), which is indicative of strong demand for the premium Baleno hartchback and the new Dzire sedan. It may be recollected that the Baleno, the largest of the company’s hatchbacks which comes with ABS and dual airbags as standard across the 11-variant range, sold a total of 19,153 units in July 2017, its best-ever monthly total since launch in October 2015. 

Meanwhile, monthly sales of the Ciaz premium sedan seem to be settling down in the 6,000 unit range. The car sold a total of 6,457 units last month, up 3.9% (August 2016: 6,214), which is a pointer to the fact that the car’s sales shift to the premium Nexa retail channel in April is working. The Ciaz posted its best-ever monthly sales in April 2017 (7,024).

Overall passenger car sales at 115,897 units were a 28.4% growth over year-ago numbers (August 2016: 90,629).

The utility vehicles – Gypsy, Ertiga, Vitara Brezza and S-Cross – as usual provided firepower for monthly sales: at 21,442 units sold and 27.6% YoY growth (August 2016: 16,806). Expect the Maruti Vitara Brezza, which notched its best-ever monthly sales of 15,243 units in July 2017, to have contributed the bulk of the UV numbers.

Bringing up the rear are the two vans, the Omni and the Eeco which together sold 13,931 units, up 8.6% (August 2016: 12,831).

April-August 2017 performance
Maruti Suzuki's performance over the April-August 2017 period is also a strong one, with cumulative PV sales nearing the 700,000 mark: 671,974 units (+18.3%), as compared to 568,010 units a year ago.

In the mini segment, the Alto and WagonR continue to be present in the top 5 selling cars in the country, registering total sales of 181,248 units (+11%), over the 163,264 units sold in April-August 2016.

The compact category saw a sizeable growth of 28.2 percent over this period, with sales closing at 292,442 units (April-August 2017: 228,166), on the back of demand coming in from the popular hatchbacks, including the Baleno, Celerio, Swift and the third-gen Dzire compact sedan, which was launched in May this year.

In the midsize sedan space, the Ciaz has accumulated sales of 28,532 units (+13.8%) over the 25,066 units sold during the same period in the last fiscal. 

While vans showed a marginal growth of 1.9 percent, with the Eeco and the Omni selling 65,384 units (April-August 2016: 64,137 units), it is the pack of UVs, including the hot-selling Brezza, which all together sold a total of 104,248 units, a substantial 41.9 percent growth over the numbers during the same period last year, which stood at 73,536 units.