Maruti Suzuki moves up the gears, plans to become an aspirational brand

To that end, it has worked hard on design tweaks and technological upgrades in its models, besides overhauling its retail network in a big way

In January this year, the country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, reported a 0.6 per cent drop in domestic car sales, down to 139,002 units from 139,844 units exactly a year ago. In the small car segment (mini plus compact) — its traditional workhorse — sales were down 7.4 per cent. The sales of A-segment (entry level) mini cars (Alto, S-Presso) slid 2.8 per cent, down to 25,153 units from 25,885 units in January 2020.

Sales of some other popular models such as the WagonR, Swift, Dzire, Baleno, Ignis and Celerio that operate in the compact segment also plunged in January