Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest auto maker, reported a marginal decline in its February 2018 sales, as exports fell 20% and domestic market sales rose 0.9%.
Total vehicle sales, including exports, were down 0.8% at 149 lakh compared to February 2018.
The monthly performance is largely similar to what was seen in January, when domestic market sales had increased by just 1.1%.
Total car sales in the domestic market increased by 264 units to 136,912 units from 136,648.
Ciaz, the company’s mid-segment sedan, continued to drag down the overall performance.
Ciaz sales fell by 37% in February to 3,084, compared to 4,897 last year.
Other car segments — including small cars and compact — also showed declines.
Total domestic sales of cars in the mini and compact segments taken together fell 1.6% — or by 1,573 units — to 97,429 units.
The exact reason for the fall was not clear as the company started adding WagonR numbers to its ‘compact’ car numbers. Normally, the compact segment only included models like Celerio, Swift, Dzire and Baleno.
Despite adding WagonR numbers to this segment, total sales in the compact segment increased by just about 5,500 units to 72,678, while that of the Mini segment — which used to include Alto and WagonR — saw a sales decline of around 9,000 units to 24,751 in February this year.
On a positive note, the company’s utility vehicle segment, comprising models like the newly launched Ertiga and Vitara Brezza, continued to post strong numbers.
UV sales jumped 7.4%, or about 1,500 vehicles, to 21,834 units in February.
The strongest jump was seen in sales of its vans — Eeco and Omni — that rose by around 2,140 units to 14,565 this time.
Maruti’s sole commercial vehicle, the Super Carry pick-up truck, saw brisk sales at 2,188 units against 1,252 last year.
Exports, meanwhile fell 20% on year to 9,582 units.
The numbers are disappointing, when compared to the company’s usual performance.