Strong Swift, WagonR sales indicates rural bounce-back

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has seen a resurgence in the hatchback segment, Partho Banerjee, the company’s Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, said on Wednesday. Maruti Suzuki sold 62,324 units in December 2024, marking a 29% increase compared to 48,298 units sold in December 2023. However, cumulatively from April to December 2024, the company sold 638,290 units, a decrease of 10% as compared to the same period last year.

Banerjee sees a revival in the hatchback segment in the future. “Our best-selling car in December in terms of retail happens to be Swift, which is 29,765, followed by WagonR which was 29,566. Hatchback segment is seeing a good traction. When affordability in this segment of customer will be addressed, we’ll see them coming back. The prices of the vehicles have gone up to the tune of 60% compared to 2018, however the income levels haven't gone up,” he said.

The growth, driven primarily by rural markets, is in a stark contrast to the ongoing weakness in urban demand, which continues to face challenges.

During the first half of the financial year, Maruti Suzuki’s urban sales declined by 2%, even as rural sales grew by 8%. The slowdown in urban demand has been attributed to factors such as state elections, heatwaves, and heavy monsoon activity in certain regions, which affected dealership footfalls. The company is betting on the revival of the premium hatchback segment and expects it to reach 1 million units in annual sales by 2030. This will mean a growth of 43% from the current base of 7 lakh units – a CAGR of 5-6%. 

“Our growth in retail numbers is in line with the industry. We’re almost growing by 4%. We believe that being the market leader, we need to serve all set of customers and be present in all segments. Like in the Sedan segment, the industry might not be doing so well, but Maruti has done well in the sedan segment as well in this calendar year,” he said.