Maruti sales up by 22 pc

Maruti sales up by 22 pc
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

NEW DELHI, MAR 1: Market leader, Maruti Udyog has achieved a 22 per cent jump in car sales to 30,591 units in February as against 25,177 units in the same month last year.

The company also registered a 25 per cent growth in sales during April-February of the current fiscal by selling 3.39 lakh vehicles compared to 2.71 lakhs in 1998-99.

During February, MUL sold 1,057 units of its latest offering, premium small car, Wagon-R and 656 units of luxury sedan Baleno.

Sales of Zen, which is facing tough competition from Hyundai Santro, Tata Indica and Daewoo Matiz, jumped by 39.5 per cent to 6,581 units during the review month, a company statement said here today.

Company's bread and butter model, Maruti-800 could register a sales growth of just 1.4 per cent at 13,939 units during the month compared to 13,747 units sold in February last year.

Omni van sales were, however, higher by 27.5 per cent at 7218 units during the month. It also sold 1113 units of its mid-sized car Esteem in February this year, up by 12 per cent.

During April-February of the current financial year, Maruti-800 sales increased by 19.6 per cent to 1.76 units while Zen sales went up by 23.4 per cent to 73,331 units. Omni sales were also up by 45.3 per cent at 74,871 units during the period.

However, Esteem sales dipped by 3.2 per cent to 14,631units in the first 11 months of the current fiscal.

On the other hand, Hyundai, makers of Santro and Accent, sold 7,473 cars in February. "The February sales for the Accent luxury sedan stood at its highest ever level of 1,270 units while that of Santro stood at 6,203 units," it said in a statement.

The firm added that the company's cumulative sales stood at 84,887 cars since it began operations in October 1998.

Hyundai Motor India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the South Korean carmaker, has set a sales target of 78,000 cars for calendar 2000, up from 60,321 in 1999.

Hyundai Motors entered the Indian market with the launch of its small Santro car in October 1998. It launched the mid-sized Accent model about four months ago.