Maruti Suzuki India has released the sales numbers for the month of October and after several months of de-growth, the company has finally reported a decent 4.5 per cent rise in volumes. Last month Maruti Suzuki India's total sales stood at 153,435 units, as compared to the 146,766 units sold during the same month last year. The increase in sales can certainly be attributed to the festive mood, considering most days of the Navratri, along with Dussehra, and Diwali week all came in October. However what's worth mentioning is that last year the festival of Diwali came in November 2018, during which the company's total sales stood at 153,539 units, almost the same as this October 2019. In fact, early this month, R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India said that "sales in October this year will be comparable to sales in October last year".
Sales in the domestic market, for October 2019, also witnessed a growth of 2.5 per cent, at 141,550 units, compared to the 138,100 vehicles sold during the same month last year. Adding the 2,727 Baleno units sold to Toyota as sales to other OEM, domestic sales touched 144,277, bringing the growth to 4.5 per cent. This was mainly due to the strong performance of the compact and utility vehicles, each of which grew by 15.9 per cent and 11.3 per cent respectively. Cumulative sales of models like new-gen WagonR, Celerio, Swift, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire stood at 75,094 units, while the cumulative sales of models like Vitara Brezza, S-Cross, Ertiga, the new XL6, and even the now discontinued Gypsy reached 23,108 units.
The mid-size sedan Maruti Suzuki Ciaz continues to be one of the company's Achilles' heel as it only sold 2,371, compared to the 3,892 units sold in October 2018, and drop of -39.1 per cent. Other weak points include 28,537, a drop of 13.1 per cent, compared to the 32,835 units sold in October 2018. Sale of the company's LCV Super Carry last month reached 2,429 units, 12.9 per cent growth, against the 2,152 units sold during the same month in 2018.
The company's total exports also grew by 5.7 per cent, to 9,158 units, as against the 8,666 units sold during October 2018.
