Maruti sees 20% sales growth in FY10

With revival of demand in the domestic automart, the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India expects its sales to grow by about 20 per cent during the current financial year.

"So far our domestic sales have grown by about 22 per cent. The total sales for the fiscal will depend on the outcome of the fourth quarter, sales of which in the last fiscal were very good.

"Still, it (sales) should be around 20 per cent jump for the whole fiscal," Maruti Suzuki India Chief General Manager (Marketing) Shashank Srivastava told reporters here.

As per Society of Indian Automobile Manufactureres (SIAM) data, the company had sold 7,22,144 units in the domestic market during 2008-09.

Srivastava said the total sales, including exports, is expected to increase by 18-20 per cent this fiscal over last fiscal's 7,92,166 units. MSI registered about 27 per cent jump in total sales during the first eight months of FY'10.

Talking about new products, Srivastava said the company would launch a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) Eeco, which would replace its MPV Versa, on January 7 next year at the Auto Expo in the National Capital.

The vehicle, complying with Bharat Stage IV emission norms, would come with a 1,200cc petrol engine and could be priced below Versa, he said, adding "Versa's price started from about Rs 3.5 lakh".

The company expects to sell 40,000 units of Eeco in the first 12 months of the launch. The current market size of this segment is estimated at about 8,000-10,000 units a month.

Eeco, which would give a mileage of 15.1 km per litre under standard conditions, would come with three-row and two-row seating arrangements accomodating five to seven passengers.

When asked what would be the company's strategy to make Eeco a successful model unlike Versa, Srivastava said: "In Versa we probably made some mistakes by marketing that as a luxury vehicle, which was not a luxury one and customers don't look at luxury in this segment. We also did not seek any feedback from our customers.

"This time we have incorporated feedback that we received from customers and clearly we have not positioned Eeco as a luxury vehicle. We are sure, this will be a success."

Depending on demand for Eeco, the company could consider rolling out CNG version of the vehicle in future, he added.