Mul & #39;S Sees 21% Rise In Domestic Sales

Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) posted a 20.7 per cent rise in domestic sales in May 2001. The company sold 31,140 units last month, as compared with 25,798 units sold in May 2000.

However, Korean chaebol Daewoo Motors India Ltd's (DMIL) sales dipped by a whopping 61.21 per cent in May this year, as opposed to the same month last year.

DMIL sold only 2,340 cars last month, as opposed to 6,033 units sold in May 2000. However, as compared to April 2001, DMIL performed marginally better. In April 2001, the company sold 2063 cars.

MUL grabbed 62 per cent of the market share in May 2001, as against 50.3 per cent in May 2000, the company said in a statement.

Including exports of 1,124 cars, MUL's May 2001 sales stood at 32,264 cars. The sales in May were higher by 18.5 per cent as compared to 26,264 units sold in April this year.

Sales of Maruti 800, Omni, Zen, WagonR and Alto stood at 12,631 units, 5,318 units, 6,352 units, 2,296 units and 3,268 units, respectively.

The company sold 1,106 units of its mid-size car Esteem and 169 units of its premium mid-segment car -- Baleno -- in May 2001. In addition, the company also sold 479 units of Gypsy, a multi-utility vehicle.

MUL's cumulative sales for this fiscal (April-May 2001-02) increased marginally by 3 per cent at 57,404 units, as against 55,709 units sold in the same period last fiscal.

In the competitive B-segment (comprising cars such as Hyundai Santro, Daewoo Matiz, Tata Indica and Maruti Zen, Alto and WagonR), its sales went up by 38.4 per cent at 11,916 cars as compared to 8,604 cars sold in April 2000, the statement added.

With this, MUL's market share in the B-segment has increased to 45 per cent during the month.