In a clear sign that the slowdown in economy is making the going tough for the auto sector, the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, which has a presence in every price point in the automobile industry, has seen a fall in domestic sales during March with not only the sales of top-end model but even cars in the lower end of the segment coming down.
What saved the blushes for the car maker was the performance in the super compact and utility vehicles segments that witnessed solid growth for Maruti Suzuki in March.
In its filings with the stock exchanges on Tuesday, the company has said that sales in the mini car segment-where it has Maruti800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR models-declined 14.7 per cent to 45,047 units compared to 52,826 units in March last year. In the compact car segment too where it has Swift, Estilo and Ritz, the sales took a hit by 7.3 per cent, falling to 25,868 vehicles in March 2013 (27,913 in March 2012).
However, sales in the super compact segment witnessed a 22 per cent growth where its Dzire model sold 20,078 units (16,451 units). Its midsize SX4 model also took a 40.6 per cent hit in sales, falling to 903 units in March 2013 from 1,520 units in the same month in 2012.
The total passenger car sales was down by 6.9 per,cent to 91,896 units during last month to compared to 98,758 units in the same month in 2012.
However, in the utility vehicle segment, the launch of Ertiga in April 2012 has injected new life in the segment for Maruti. The company, which has the Gypsy and Grand Vitara models also in the UV segment, witnessed a 324.1 per cent jump in sales in the segment to 6,488 vehicles compared to 1,530 vehicles in March last year, largely because of the sales of Ertiga model. The Maruti Omni and Eeco van suffered a jolt with sales falling by 23.6 per cent to 9,506 vehicles in March 2013 compared to 12,436 units in March last year.
For the whole month, while the domestic sales was down by 4.3 per cent, exports suffered an 8.9 per cent decline. Total sales was down by 4.8 per cent (exports and domestic sales) to 1,19,937 units (1,25,952 units). However, for the full year (2012-13 FY), Maruti sold 11,71,434 vehcles (both exports and domestic sales), up by 3.3 per cent.
Maruti stock softened to Rs 1,297.85 on the NSE, up by Rs 14.05. The stock had touched a high of Rs 1,311 in the morning trade today but has recovered from the day's low of Rs 1,260.