Maruti June sales rise 17 per cent to 48,425 units

During the month, sales growth in the premium hatchback segment slowed down surprisingly to 10.2 per cent. Sales of models like Alto, Wagon R, Zen and Swift increased to 27,228 units for the month as compared to 24,703 during June 2005. The segment has been the company's best performer for many months now and the company had reported growth of over 38 per cent year-on-year during May 2006.

Maruti managed a healthy volume growth for its entry level model Maruti – 800 last month as well. The model sold 7,796 units during the month, an increase of 22.1 per cent as compared to 6,387 units for June 2005. Sales for June were even better than the number for May 2006, which stood at 6,743 units.

The passenger van segment was the best performer for the month with sales of the company's models Omni and Versa increasing 43.9 per cent to 6,464 units as compared to 4,492 units for June 2005.

Mid-sized sedans like the Esteem and Baleno also reported healthy growth rate of 22.3 per cent to 2,680 units as compared to 2,191 units for June 2005.

Total domestic sales for the month increased by 17.5 per cent to 44,626 units from 37,995 units a year ago. Exports increased by 11.9 per cent to 3,799 units as compared to 3,395 units during the same month of previous year.

For the first quarter of 2006-07, sales have increased 18.9 per cent to 144,948 units as compared to 121,866 units for the same period of 2005-06. Domestic sales increased 19.2 per cent while export sales improved by 13.8 per cent.