Maruti Suzuki October sales marginally down at 1.04 lakh units

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Limited sold a total of 103,973 vehicles in October 2014, including 97,069 units sold in the domestic market and 6,904 units exported. The October 2014 sales showed a marginal decline of 1.1 per cent compared to October 2013 sales of 105,087 units.

The company said its domestic sales rose 1 per cent year-on-year compared to 96,062 units sold in October 2013 while total sales, including exports, declined 1.1 per cent in October.

Sales of mini segment cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, declined by 9.2 per cent to 35,753 units compared to 39,379 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a statement.

Sales of the compact cars comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz and Dzire declined by 3.5 per cent to 37,083 units in October this year against 38,410 units sold last year. Sales of the compact sedan Dzire Tour rose 42.4 per cent during the month to 1,408 units against 989 units sold in October 2013.

Sales of the mid-sized sedan Ciaz, which was launched in October, stood at 6,345 units. The company had sold 262 units of SX4 sedan in the same period of 2013. There was no sale of premium sedan Kizashi during the month.

Sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara and Ertiga, declined by 16.7 per cent to 6,027 units in October this year from 7,236 units in the corresponding month last year.

Sales of vans - Omni and Eeco - increased by 6.8 per cent to 10,453 units in October this year, against 9,786 units sold in October 2013.

Exports during the month declined by 23.5 per cent to 6,904 units compared to 9,025 units in October last year, MSI said.

Maruti Suzuki will launch the new Alto K10 in India on 3 November. The company claims the updated car has more than a facelift and has gone through some mechanical changes as well.

The company says its engineers have worked on making the engine bay shorter and this has contributed to a perception of roominess inside the cabin.

This and the 1.5 cm increase in width and height should ideally make the Alto K10 a bit more spacious than before.

The new Alto K10 is also the second model from Maruti to be equipped with auto gear shift (AGS) feature after the Celerio.