Maruti Suzuki India today released the sales numbers for the month of March 2020, during which the company saw a decline of 47 per cent in overall sales. Last month, the country’s largest carmaker, only sold 83,792 units, as compared to the 158,076 units sold during the same month in 2019. This de-growth is the direct result of the coronavirus outbreak that has gripped the nation in a lockdown, forcing Maruti Suzuki to suspend all production and sales operations from March 22 onwards.
Maruti Suzuki India’s domestic sales were equally disastrous, witnessing a decline of over 46 per cent at 79,080 units, as against the 147,613 vehicles sold during the same month last year. This also includes the 2,104 vehicles (Baleno) the company sells to Toyota. Exports, at the same time, witnesses a drop of 55 per cent at 4,712 units, as compared to the 10,463 vehicles exported in March 2019.
The compact car segment, which also includes the Swift, was down by almost 51 per cent
The mini segment only saw a marginal de-growth of 5 per cent, thanks to the still fresh S-Presso that helped Maruti regain some lost ground in the entry segment. Furthermore, despite losing 1/3rd of sales days, the drop in the segment was very small, considering in March 2019 the mini segment saw a much bigger decline of 55.1 per cent, as compared to March 2018. This shows the entry level segment saw much greater demand this year. However, it was the compact car segment that took a massive hit, with a decline of almost 51 per cent. The cumulative sales of Wagon R, Swift, Beleno, Dzire, Ignis, Celerio and Tour S stood at 40,519 units, as compared to 82,532 units sold during the same month last year. The carmaker’s compact sedan Maruti Suzuki Ciaz continued to see de-growth at 1,863 units witnessing a decline of 49.3 per cent.
The UV sales was one of the most affected areas, witnessing a decline of 53.4 per cent
The utility vehicle segment was one of the most affected spaces, with cumulative sales of Vitara Brezza, Ertiga, XL6, S-Cross and Gypsy standing at 11,904 units, a decline of 53.4 per cent as compared to the 25,563 units sold in March 2019. Similarly, the cumulative sales of Omni and Eeco were down by 63.7 per cent, but the biggest hit was taken by the Super Carry LCV, which saw a de-growth of 71.5 per cent.
As for the company’s total sales for the Financial Year 2019-20, between April 2019 and March 2020, Maruti Suzuki India 1,563,297 vehicles, witnessing a 16.1 per cent decline, as compared to the 1,862,449 vehicles sold during the same period in the previous fiscal year.
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