Indicating the welcome return of demand for passenger vehicles in India, market leader Maruti Suzuki has reported total sales of 124,280 units in June 2021. Last month’s performance, which constitutes a strong comeback on the back of pent-up demand, follows sale of 30,903 units in May and 135,879 units in April.

The entry level hatchback duo of the Alto and S-Presso sold a total of 17,439 units, which reveals demand is yet to return in a big way to this sub-segment. This segment is also the one which is seeing a lot of activity in the used car market, indicating that cash-strapped consumers are preferring to spend less even as existing vehicle owners hold on to their cars for a longer period.

The high-selling six-pack comprising the Wagon R, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire and Tour S sold a total of 68,849 units, slightly below the 72,318 unit sold in April 2021.

Maruti Suzuki’s utility vehicles – Vitara Brezza, Ertiga, S-Cross, Gypsy and XL6 – went home to 28,172 buyers, which marks a robust show of strength for this booming segment. April 2021 US sales for the company were 25,484 units.

The carmaker has closed the first quarter (April-June 2021) with cumulative sales of 293,062 units. While the comparison with Q1 FY2020 (64,976 units) numbers would not be correct given that the country was badly impacted by the pandemic then, Maruti Suzuki had sold a total of 363,417 units in Q1 FY2019 and 463,840 in Q1 FY2018, both years when the industry was ticking away at a good pace.