Swift Dzire and Small Cars Saved Maruti Suzuki India in April 2013

India's leading carmaker Maruti Suzuki India has reported 3.1 per cent decline in April this year at 97,302 units. The company had sold a total 1,00,415 units in the same month last year. However, MSI reported a marginal 0.3% rise in domestic sales in April. As against the last year's 90,255 units in April, 2012, Maruti Suzuki sold 90,523 units in the same month this year.

What has helped the company do marginally well in April 2013 are increase in sales of Swift Dzire and the company's Mini segment Cars (Alto, M800, A-Star and WaongR). Sales of Swift Dzire hiked by 25.38% to 19,446 units as against the corresponding month, last year's 15,510 units. Mini Segment cars that include M800, A-Star, Alto and WagonR witnessed a growth of 13.69 per cent to 34,927 units from 30,720 units in April, 2012.

Other than the Swift Dzire and MSI's entry level cars, almost all the segment recorded a fall. The Compact segment that comprises the Estilo, Ritz and Swift fell by 17.40 per cent. SX4, and utility vehicle segment too recorded drop in their sales. Moreover, not even a single unit of luxury sedan Kizashi could be sold in April 2013. Maruti Suzuki's exports too came down by 33.28% to 6,779 units from last year April's 10,160 units.