Maruti sales decline 1.6% in March

Expects FY16 sales to grow at a faster pace than the forecast of 5-6%

Country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today reported a marginal 1.6% decline in its total sales for March at 1,11,555 units as against 1,13,350 units in the same month a year ago.

The company said its domestic sales increased by 1.4% during the month to 1,03,719 units as against 1,02,269 units in March 2014.

The carmaker expects sales to grow at a faster pace than the forecast of 5-6% growth for the industry in FY16.

Maruti Suzuki, which sells about one in every two cars in India, reported its best-ever annual sales in the year to end-March but is yet to see a strong recovery in the passenger car market, executive director, R S Kalsi, said on Wednesday. It sold 1.29 million passenger vehicles in the fiscal year ended March 31 - a 12% increase from a year ago and higher than its previous peak of 1.27 million in the year 2010-2011.

Sales of mini segment cars, including, Alto and WagonR, rose marginally to 40,159 units in March 2014 as compared to 40,085 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a statement.

The company said sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire declined by 12.5% to 38,710 units in March this year as against 44,251 units last year.

MSI said sales of its compact sedan Dzire Tour rose over two-fold during the month under review at 2,613 units as against 1,271 units in March 2014.

The sales of company's mid-sized sedan Ciaz, which was launched in October 2014, stood at 4,251 units. The company had sold 411 units of SX4 sedan in March 2014. There was no sale of premium sedan Kizashi during the month.

Sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, declined by 4.3% at 6,218 units in March this year from 6,499 units in the corresponding month last year.

Sales of vans - Omni and Eeco - rose by 20.7% to 11,768 units in March this year as compared to 9,752 units in the same period of previous year. Exports during the month declined by 20.3% to 7,836 units as compared to 11,081 units in March last year, MSI said.

For the 2014-15 fiscal, the company said it posted hihest ever sales ever at 12,92,415 units, up 11.9%, from 11,55,041 units in 2013-14. The previous high was in 2010-11, when the company had sold 12,71,005 units.

The company's domestic sales during the 2014-15 fiscal stood at 11,70,702 units, up 11.1%, from 10,53,689 units in 2013-14 fiscal.