Small car sales drag, compact segment boosts Maruti to 13% growth

NEW DELHI: The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said its domestic passenger vehicle wholesales rose 13 per cent to 1,37,320 units last month as against 1,21,995 units in April 2022.

Sales of mini cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, fell 18 per cent to 14,110 units as compared with 17,137 units a year ago. However, sales in the compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, rose 27 per cent to 74,935 units as against 59,184 cars in April 2022. The auto major said its utility vehicle sales, comprising Brezza, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, also rose 8 per cent year-on-year to 36,754 units.

In a virtual press conference, MSI senior executive officer (Marketing & Sales) Shashank Srivastava said the company witnessed some production loss last month owing to chip shortage. ‘’We were constrained in many ways by the semiconductor issue and we lost some volume, especially in Brezza, Grand Vitara, and the Ertiga,’’ he added.

He, however, noted that the company’s market share in the sports utility segment rose to 21 per cent in April from around 12.6 per cent a year ago. Srivastava noted that the overall SUV segment last month accounted for over 47 per cent of the total passenger vehicle sales.