Maruti Suzuki sales zoom 17% in Dec

Maruti Suzuki witnessed a 17 per cent jump in overall sales in December to 99,225 units against 84,804 units in the same period last year. Sales in the domestic market stood at 89,469 units against 71,000 units in December 2009. The companys facilities at Manesar and Gurgaon were shut down in the last week of December due to maintenance work.

Owing to falling demand in Europe,the companys exports declined 29.32 per cent to 9,756 units compared to 13,804 units in the same period last year. The company witnessed a sharp dip of 30.15 per cent in sales of Maruti 800. The sales of Maruti 800 stood at 1,798 units against 2,574 units in December 2009.

Meanwhile,sales of Alto,WagonR,Estilo,Swift,A-Star and Ritz,which comprises the A2 segment,saw a jump of over 20per cent to 64,492 units against 52,236 units in December 2009. The A3 segment sales that has the SX4 and the DZiRE surged 19.37per cent to 9,362 units from 7,843 units last year. In the April-December period,the companys overall sales jumped 37 per cent to 9,27,665 units against 7,30,943 units.

In December its domestic rivals Hyundai Motor grew 17.6per cent at 26,168 units compared to 22,252 units in December 2009. Tata Motors sales in December increased 34per cent to 19,706 units from 14,654 units last year.