In a clear indication that customers are curtailing spending, the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has seen across-the-board decline in car sales except in the super compact segment during February compared to the same month last year.
It was the marginal increase in exports which cushioned to some extent the impact of overall fall in sales.
Maruti sold 1,09,567 units in February, including 11,612 units in the export market. This represents a drop of 8 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
The company’s sales of passenger cars in February fell to the extent of 10.9 per cent to around 84,000 units (from 94,118 units).
The company saw its two dominant market segments-mini and compact car - witnessing sharp erosion in sales in February this year. In the mini passenger car segments where it has M 800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, the sales fell by 15.9 per cent to 41,311 units in Feb this year compared to 49,104 in the same month last year.
The compact segment where Maruti has three popular models--Swift, Estilo and Ritz also suffered a 13.9 per cent dent in sales-- to 24,021 units compared to 27,899 cars sold in Feb 2012. However, the super compact segment where it has Dzire model, recorded a 21.6 per cent jump in sales to 18, 316 units as against 15,068 units during Feb last year.
However, in the mid-size and executive passenger car segments, the erosion in sales was very steep. In the mid-size segment, its SX4 sales fell by 89.4 per cent to 215 units (2,033 units in February 2012) and the company sold a mere 2 Kizashi luxury cars in the executive segment compared to 14 vehicles in February last year, an 85.7 per cent decline.
Surprisingly it was in the utility vehicles segment that it witnessed the sharpest increase in sales though the comparison might not be valid since the popular Ertiga was launched only in April last year. In this segment, where Maruti has apart from Ertiga, Gypsy and Grand Vitara, the sales grew by a whopping 2,490 per cent to 5,957 vehicles compared to 230 units in February last year. Obviously this sales growth came with the launch of Ertiga in April last year and, hence, the comparison between Feb 2013 and Feb 2012 should be tempered.
Its van sales-where it has Omni and Eeco-dived to 8,133 units in Feb 2013 from 13,305 units in Feb last year, a 38.9 per cent decline.
While the total domestic sales declined by 9 per cent in Feb this year compared to Feb last year, a 2.8 per cent increase in export sales cushioned the impact. The total sales (domestic and exports) declined by 7.9 per cent to 1,09,567 units in Feb 2013 compared to 1,18,949 units in the same month in 2012.
During the April 2012-Feb 2013 period, Maruti has sold 10,51,497 units including exports against 10,07,743 units in the corresponding period in the previous year, a 4.3 per cent increase.
On the NSE, Maruti shares were trading at Rs 1,395.30, up by Rs 40.95 with a trading volume of 3.08 lakh shares.