India’s leading carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, registered domestic sales of 1,52,718 passenger vehicles in March 2024, witnessing a YoY growth of 15 percent, as compared to selling 1,32,763 units in March last year. During FY23, Maruti Suzuki’s total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 16,06,870 units compared to 17,59,881 units sold in FY24, registering a 9.5 percent growth.
For Maruti Suzuki, the Mini and Compact segment, which consists of the Alto, S-Presso, Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, Swift, Tour S, and WagonR registered sales of 81,673 units in March 2024 against 83,414 units sold in March 2023, a YoY decline of 2 percent. During the same period, UV sales registered sales of 58,436 units, a YoY increase of 57.7 percent.
During FY23, UV sales, which include Brezza, Ertiga, Fronx, Grand Vitara, Invicto, Jimny, S-Cross, and XL6 registered sales of 3,66,129 units as compared to FY24’s sales of 6,42,296 units, a YoY increase of 75.4 percent.
Speaking about the company’s performance, Shashank Srivastava, who has recently been made a member of the executive committee at Maruti Suzuki said the company’s March 2024 performance is the highest ever monthly sales for 15 months consecutively. He added that while the entire industry grew at about 10 percent in March, Maruti clocked 15 percent on the back of higher demand for SUVs. He also pointed out that overall the company has seen a 2 percent increase in market share, taking its overall market share to 42 percent of the Indian passenger car market. Among SUVs alone, the company claims a 22 percent market share.
Srivastava said that hybrids have been seeing increased demand, and appear to be growing faster than electric vehicles in the Indian market. About 99,000 electric cars were sold in the last year, while hybrids have clocked 89,000 in sales, with Maruti Suzuki accounting for about 17,000 of those. Srivastava, speaking at a meet-and-greet conference to announce the sales numbers also said that the pre-owned business True Value saw about 4.8 lakh vehicle sales making it the 5th largest automotive brand in India, if one sees it that way.
India has seen over 4 million passenger vehicle sales for the first time, which also makes it the third-largest passenger vehicle market in the world, overtaking Japan. Rural growth (at 11 percent) also outshone urban growth (7 percent).
Speaking about the company’s exports, Rahul Bharti, head corporate affairs at Maruti Suzuki, says exports grew 10 percent for the company, while it was down 3 percent for the rest of the industry. Maruti saw exports go up from 259,000 cars last year to 283,000 cars this year, with exports to over 100 countries including Chile, Mexico and South Africa, with Baleno, Swift, Espresso, Grand Vitara and Jimny being the vehicles exported.
