Maruti Suzuki reports strong auto sales for May 2018

Maruti Suzuki reported one of its strongest auto sales performances in recent months for May, with total passenger vehicle sales up 24% at 1.615 lakh.

Total vehicle sales in May were up 26% at 1.725 lakh, compared to a rise of 14% reported for April.

The growth continued to be driven by the ‘compact’ category, comprising the Swift, Dzire, Baleno and so on.

The number of compact cars sold in May rose 51% to 77,263 from 51,234 in May last year.

Interestingly, this is less than the volumes seen in April, when compact sales had grown 31.8 percent to 83,834 units.

Again, SUV sales again picked up pace after remaining flat in April.

In May, UVs reported a 13.4% jump in volumes to 25,629 units. It is estimated that almost half of those are Vitara Brezza units, with S-Cross also contributing a substantial chunk.

The biggest movers, however, are the Swift and Dzire, which have set the compact segment sales on fire.

Ciaz, meanwhile, continued to slump, falling 15% on year to just above 4,000 units.

Sales of commercial vehicles jumped to 1,703 units from 428 a year ago and 1,544 in April.

Exports were up 48% at 9,312 units against 6,286 a year ago and 8,008 in the preceding month of April.