Top car maker Maruti Suzuki India has ended the 2015 with a positive note, as its total sales grew by 11 per cent at 1.4 million units in the calendar year, which saw fragmented auto recovery in the country.
The company’s total domestic sales stood at 1,289,128 units during January-December 2015 when compared with 1,152,128 units in the same period previous year. It also reported decent growth in December 2015 with total 13.5 growth in domestic sales at 111,333 units, when compared with December 2014.
Exports also grew strongly on the back of expansion of markets and addition of more models in its export portfolio. Total exports in 2015 stood at 126,430 units as against 118,445 units in 2014, posting a rise of six per cent. Thus, overall sales for 2015 stood at 1,415,558 units, its highest ever annual volumes.
The company has termed 2015 as the year of transformation for Maruti Suzuki. While it set up an exclusive dealer network under Nexa brand to sell premium cars, the year also saw Maruti introducing its auto gear shift (AGS) technology in the entry level models and followed it up by offering ABS and dual airbags in base variants of popular models on the back of growing awareness for safety contents in cars.
“The company has consciously added one of the convenience technologies to its models in the portfolio. For entry segment, it has focused on adding AGS ( Wagon R, Celerio & Alto K-10), for higher segments like Baleno there’s CVT (continuously variable transmission) , while AT (automatic transmission) powers for brands like Ciaz, Ertiga, Dzire & Ritz,” said R.S. Kalsi, Executive Director - (Marketing & Sales) Maruti Suzuki India.
Apart from safety contents, the company also expanded infotainment technology and introduced Apple car play systems first in India on Baleno. Ciaz, Ertiga are also all equipped with car play systems.
“2015 turned out to be the year of a slow and fragmented recovery in the Indian automotive market. The key drivers for the market included low fuel prices and declining interest rates. However, the lower rural demand on the account of adverse climatic conditions proved to be an inhibitor,” Vinay Raghunath, Partner-Automotive Practice, EY India, said.
