Maruti Suzuki Sales Grow Marginally In December 2018

India's largest carmaker- Maruti Suzuki has recorded a marginal growth of 1 per cent in December 2018 selling 119,804 units of passenger vehicles against 118,560 units in the same period last year. The biggest decline in sales was seen in the entry-level segment (Alto and WagonR) which recorded a negative growth of 14 per cent selling 27,661 units in December 2018 compared to 32,146 units in the same months last year. The degrowth was followed in the compact car segment (Celerio, Swift, Ignis, Dzire and Baleno) which is the major volume driver for Maruti. The Volume in the Compact cars segment went down by 3.8 per cent selling 51,334 units against 53,336 units in the same month last year.

The marginal growth in sales is driven primarily by the UV and Vans segment further complemented with the sales of new Maruti Suzuki Ciaz which has witnessed a whopping uptick of 98.7 per cent in sales, part of which is also attributed to the low base. In December 2018, 4734 units of the 2018 Maruti Suzuki Ciaz were sold against 2382 units in the same period last year. The Utility Vehicle segment (Vitara Brezza, Ertiga, S-Cross) has recorded a growth of 4.9 per cent selling 20,225 units in December 2018 as against 19,276 units in December 2017. The growth was further followed by the Vans segment selling 15,850 units in December 2018 against 11,420 in the same period last year.

The sluggish growth in sales is due to several headwinds which have been affecting sentiments of car buyers. The Indian Auto Industry is still recovering from the hit which car sales took from rising fuel prices and other factors such as a rise in interest rates and onetime payment of insurance premium. However, the fuel prices have been restored after a series of reduction in retail fuel prices which is likely to offset the impact the high fuel price have had on the volumes.