Maruti sees 10% drop in June sales, Toyota surprises with 29% jump

Maruti's June sales in the domestic market stood at 92,133 units against 1,02,626 units in same month last year

Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest car maker, has seen its first double digit monthly sales decline in recent history as it lost production due to disruption in component supply and a maintenance shutdown. The company’s sales in the domestic market slipped 10.2% in June, while exports saw a deeper cut of 45%. The impact of decline in Maruti’s domestic sales will reflect in the overall industry’s performance during June as the Delhi-based company enjoys a 48% market share.

The company’s June sales in the domestic market stood at 92,133 units against 1,02,626 units in same month last year. Export volumes fell from 12,130 units to 6,707 units. In the domestic market, all segments of vehicles barring utility vehicles saw a decline in sales.

Overall sales (domestic and exports) saw a 13.9% decline to 98,840 units. During the quarter (April-June), domestic sales grew 5.4% to 3,22,340 units. At 10.50 am, the company’s stock price at BSE was trading at Rs 4,175, marginally down from the previous close.

“The growth in sales in the quarter is despite the disruption in production during June 2016, due to the unfortunate incident of fire at Subros, a key vendor of the company. The company expects to recover the production loss during the course of the year,” Maruti said in a statement.

The company had a maintenance shutdown at both its plants from June 6 to 11. Everyday production loss is estimated at 5,000 units.

The firm had to advance maintenance by three weeks, owing to a fire at Subros on May 29 after which supply of car AC units had stopped. The fire led to suspension of operations at Maruti’s plants in Gurgaon and Manesar for a couple of days, prompting the company to advance the biennial maintenance.

Japanese auto major Toyota, which has been badly hit due to the Supreme Court ban on diesel vehicles of 2,000cc in national capital region (NCR) has reported a steep growth of 29% in June, its first double digit growth in more than a year. It sold a total 13,502 units in the domestic market, helped by 7,800 (approximately) units of the recently-launched Innova Crysta.