Compact Segment Dents Maruti Suzuki’s Monthly Sales In May
Sales of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. declined for the third consecutive month, the most since August 2012.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.’s sales declined the most in nearly seven years, as India's largest carmaker continued to grapple with a consumption slowdown for a third straight month in a row.
The company sold 1.34 lakh units last month, a fall of 22 percent from May 2018, it said in a stock exchange filing today.
The decline was primarily led by the fall in sales of its mini segment, which comprises of Alto Old WagonR models, which fell 56.7 percent to 16,394 units. Sales in the compact segment which includes, New WagonR model, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno and Dzire fell 9.2 percent year-on-year to 70,135 units during the period.
The carmaker has categorised new WagonR under the compact sub-segment effective February 2019. However, the sales number of old WagonR model, which is now discontinued are reported in the mini sub-segment.
The sales of the company were expected to decline on account of production cut, adjustment to dealer inventories, according to the dealers and analysts surveyed by BloombergQuint.
The company had slashed its production across all its facilities by about 10 percent in April, according to its separate statement on the exchanges.
Other Key sales highlights (YoY)
- Sales of mini segment fell 56.7 percent to 16,394 units.
- Sales of compact segment fell 9.2 percent to 70,135 units.
- Sales of Ciaz fell 10 percent to 3,592 units.
- Sales of utility vehicles fell 25.3 percent to 19,152 units.
- Sales of Vans rose 29.7 percent to 11,745 units.
- Sales of Super Carry rose 4,551 percent to 2,232 units.
- Total domestic passenger vehicle sales fell 1.5 percent to 1.45 lakh units.
- Total domestic sales fell 23.1 percent to 1.25 lakh units.
- Total exports slumped 2.4 percent to 9,089 units.
Maruti Suzuki had lowered its sales forecast for the current financial year and expects its volumes to grow between 4 percent and 8 percent during the period. It reported a 4.7 percent volume growth in 2018-19, compared with its scaled-down target of 8 percent.
Shares of the automaker halted a four-day fall to end marginally higher at Rs 6,89.85 on Friday. The stock is down 8 percent so far this year compared to a 11.5 percent decline in the NSE Nifty Auto Index.