Maruti Suzuki India Registers Marginal Decline In February

Maruti Suzuki, India's largest passenger car maker registered a 0.40 percent dip in total sales for the month of February.

The company on Saturday said the total vehicle sales stood at 109104 units, as against the 109567 units in the corresponding month last year. The domestic sales of the company rose to 99758 units in February, when compared to the 97,955 units in the same month last year.

Maruti's mini passenger segment witnessed dip in February, compared to last year. It posted a 9.6 percent decline in sales of its mini-car segment, which includes vehicles like M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, in February, as against 41,311 units last year. In the compact car segment, Maruti saw a growth of 19.40 percent from 24021 units in February 2013.Other segments of the company also registered growth in sales.

Sales of the mid-sized sedan SX4 saw a growth of 6 per cent at 228 units, as against the 215 units last February. Compared to the sales of last year, the company could not sell the Kizashi luxury car this year.

Sales of utility vehicles -- Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga plunged to 5,231 units in February, registering 12.2 per cent dip against the 5,957 units in February 2013.

Among other auto makers, Hyundai Motor India Ltd also witnessed a plunge in sales in February. The company reported a 14.9 per cent decline in total sales in February at 46,505 units compared with 54,665 in the same month last year.

"Post the reduction in excise duty, enquiry inflow has increased with February sales of 34,005 units a growth of 2 per cent over the earlier month and it is expected that this would lead towards creation of a positive momentum," PTI quoted HMIL Senior VP-Sales and Marketing Rakesh Srivastava .