Maruti posts record fall in July car sales

The country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India today reported a 25.34% fall in total sales for July to 75,300 units, mainly due to sluggish market condition and non-production of hatchback Swift as the company is preparing to launch a new version of the car soon.

Sales stood at 1,00,857 units in the same month last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

"Despatch of the old Swift was discontinued in July, 2011. The new Swift being manufactured in the Manesar plant will be launched nationally in mid-August, 2011. As such, while the company despatched 11,828 units of Swift in July 2010, the despatch in July, 2011, was only 348 units," it added.

Moreover, the production of sedan DZiRE was lower by 5,471 units during the month as production of the model was shifted from Manesar to Gurgaon.

"During this planned changeover, production of Swift Dzire was temporarily affected... Owing to these two planned activities, sales in July, 2011, were negatively impacted by nearly 17,000 units compared to July, 2010," the company said, adding that the overall automobile market was also sluggish during the month.

The national capital-based company recorded sales of 66,504 units in the domestic market last month, a 26.20% decrease from 90,114 units in July, 2010.

MSI's exports in July declined by 18.12% to 8,796 units from 10,743 units in the year-ago period, the company added.

Sales of the company's mini-segment cars, including the M800, A-Star, Alto and WagonR, fell by 15.62% to 38,028 units from 45,068 units in July, 2010, it said.

The compact segment (comprising Estilo, Swift and Ritz) witnessed a 56.02% dip in sales to 9,099 units from 20,691 units in the same month a year ago.

Sales of DZiRE decreased by 64.43% to 3,021 units from 8,492 units in the corresponding period a year ago, the company said.

MSI's mid-sized sedan SX4's sales, however, increased by 23.82% to 2,303 units from 1,860 units in the year-ago month. Luxury sedan Kizashi witnessed sales of 32 units.

MSI's total passenger car sales dipped 31.04% to 52,483 units in July from 76,111 units in the same month of 2010, it added.