Maruti sales look up 18% in December

Mini-B and B segments witness impressive gains

Passenger car market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) has reported a 18.2 per cent growth in December 2004 sales. MUL sold 43,828 units during the month against 37,091 units in December 2003.

Though a new record was set in terms of total sales, sales of its entry-level car, M800, receded with volumes dipping by 42 per cent during December 2004. While sales of M800 was 13,641 units in December 2003, volumes in December 2004 slipped by almost half to 7,885 units.

Despite the loss of volume in A segment, the company managed to make impressive gains in the mini-B and B segments comprising Alto, Wagon-R and Zen, where volumes in December 2004 rose by 49 per cent compared with December 2003.

Total volume in the first three quarters of the current financial year, has kept pace with December sales, recording an overall growth of 18.8 per cent.

In the first nine months of this financial year, MUL sold 389,541 units against 328,019 units sold between April and December 2004.

Though the growth was on a relatively smaller base, exports grew at a greater speed during December 2004. Exports during December 2004 grew by 78.1 per cent to 6,675 units.

GM India (GMI), a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation, sold 2,403 cars in the closing month of the year against 1,650 cars sold in December last year, a growth of 46 per cent.

The December sales included 520 units of Chevrolet Optra, 1,467 units of Chevrolet Tavera and 409 units of Opel Corsa.

GMI has also reported a sales growth of 73 per cent for calendar 2004. The company hiking its annual production capacity to 60,000 units by February 2005, a release from the company said.

In 2004, the company sold a total of 26,166 cars against 15,155 cars in the previous year, to record a 73 percent growth in annual sales, while overall passenger car growth during the year was only around 23-24 per cent.

These included 9191 Chevy Optras in Entry 'D' Luxury sedan segment, 8369 Opel Corsas and 8417 units of the new generation premium multi-utility vehicle Chevrolet Tavera.

GMI is working on several programs that will enable the launch of special editions and exciting marketing events. The annual sales target for 2005 includes 21,000 Taveras, 9,000 Optras and 8,000 Opel Corsas, the release added.

Meanwhile, utility vehicles and tractor major Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd on Monday reported sales of 11,304 vehicles in December, up 30 percent from 8,690 units in December 2003.

The Mumbai-based company said domestic sales in December included 8,709 utility vehicles, 456 light commercial vehicles and 1,796 three-wheelers. In December a year before, Mahindra sold 6,854 utility vehicles, 489 LCVs and 1,206 three-wheelers.

Utility vehicle sales last month included 2,531 units of its Scorpio model, compared with 1,537 a year ago. Mahindra exported 343 vehicles in December.