The month of May 2012 has witnessed a fall of 5 percent in the total sales of Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest car manufacturer. The company sold a total of 98,884 units in the month of May 2012 in comparison to 1,04,073 units sold in the May 2011.
The domestic sales of the company also declined by 4.3 percent to 89,478 units in May 2012 in comparison to 93,519 units sold in May 2011. The company’s exports were down by 11 percent to 9,406 units in May 2012 from 10,554 units in the same period in 2011.
The fall has primarily been contributed to by the company’s mini car model segment which has declined drastically due to the steep hike in petrol price and high interest rates. The mini cars models by Maruti Suzuki comprise the likes of the Alto, the WagonR and the A-Star and are primarily petrol driven cars. The hike in petrol price has thus resulted in a 29 percent decline in sales in the mini car segment.
The company’s SUV segment driven by the newly launched Ertiga LUV has seen a significant increase in sales with 7,734 units. Also, sales of the new Swift DZire rose by 64 percent in May 2012 as compared to the same month in 2011.