Maruti Suzuki has posted an 11.4 per cent drop in its year on year sales in the month of April. The company managed to ship 86,196 units in April 2014, as compared to 97,302 units in April 2013.
Now if the country’s largest automobile company is shedding its sales volumes, then it sure does mean trouble, and that the Indian automotive industry is far from being on the road to recovery. Maruti had posted a drop of 5.5 per cent in March 2014 as well. Moreover, the company’s sales dropped 24 per cent when compared to sales in March, when the company had managed to roll out 1,13,350 units.
Sales have dropped considerably in the entry level small car segment, which includes the Alto twins, A-Star and Wagon R, declining 25.4 per cent as they shipped 26,043 units of these cars as compared to 34,927 units last April.
The Dzire which has been one of the largest seller for the company saw sales decline by 17.7 per cent with 16,008 units against 19,446 units in April 2013. SUV/MUVs which include the Grand Vitara, Gypsy and Ertiga, fell by 5.8 per cent to 5,011 units from 5,318 units in April 2013. Vans, which include Omni and Eeco fell by 4.3 per cent to 8,322 units from 8,696 units. The company’s premium sedan Kizashi did not trouble the Maruti’s accountants even a bit.
On the brighter side of things, the compact car segment which has the Swift, Estilo, Ritz and the new Celerio in its kitty saw a healthy growth of 9.9 per cent, shipping 23,659 units in April 2014 as compared to 21,535 units in April 2013. Clearly, Celerio is pushing things here.
While the Good Samaritan Celerio has been working hard to save Maruti, other cars like Ritz, Ertiga and others seem to be losing steam to the competition. Exports too saw a surge of 4.4 per cent to 7,077 units as compared to 6,779 units in the same time last year.
Maruti’s Upcoming Cars for 2014
