Small cars help Maruti clock over 8% increase in sales in July

Maruti Suzuki on Monday informed it had sold a total of 175,916 units in the month of July as compared to 162,462 units sold in the same month of 2021. Of this total number, 155,605 units were sold in the domestic market while the remaining 20,311 units were dispatched to markets abroad. While the country's largest car maker has found going tough in recent times, its grip over the small and hatchback segments remains solid while the unveil of the Grand Vitara as the flagship vehicle also signals a wider area of play being focused upon.

In the mini passenger cars segment, where Maruti retails models like Alto and S-Presso, the company sold a total of 20,333 last month as compared to 19,685 units in the same month last year. In the compact passenger vehicles segment consisting of Maruti models such as Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, Swift, Tour S, WagonR, the automaker sold 84,818 units last month as compared to 70,268 units in the year-ago period.

The company mid-size Ciaz model clocked 1,379 units last month, slightly down as compared to 1,450 units in July of 2021. The company's utility vehicles such as Brezza, Ertiga, S-Cross, XL6 clocked 23,272 units last month, again showing a slight dip as compared to 32,272 units in the year-ago period. Sales of Maruti eeco increased slightly at 13,048 units last month as compared to 10,057 units in July of 2021.

With this, Maruti Suzuki's total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 142,850 units last month as compared to 133,732 units in the year-ago period. Sales to other OEM stood at 9,939 units and exports at 20,311 units.

The shortage of electronic components had a minor impact on the production of vehicles for Maruti Suzuki in July, mainly in domestic models. The company said that it took all possible measures to minimise the impact from the shortage.