Maruti Suzuki saw low sales in July, aided further as the company halted production of the Swift. As the new Swift variant gets ready to launch in August, the sale are expected to increase further. In fact, the new Swift variant is expected to replace WagonR as the industry and Maruti’s highest selling car following the Alto, which sells 18,000 units per month.
In this fiscal year, the Alto has managed to sell 34,000 units per month, compared to July when it had decreased to 25,000 per month. The Alto is followed by WagonR with 14,000 sales per month. The two cars are not only the company’s highest selling cars, but also the highest selling cars in the auto industry. They are followed by Hyundai i10 that has been selling around 10,000 units per month this fiscal. The other competing brands include Volkswagen Polo, Skoda Fabia, and Hyundai i20.
The company’s chief GM of marketing, Shashank Srivastava, was quoted as saying that till the past few months, excluding July when they halted production, the Swift sold 12,000 units per month. They are now increasing the production capacity for the Swift at their facility in Manesar to produce 18,000 units per month by shifting production of the DZiRE sedan to their plant in Gurgaon. This will increase further when their second facility in Manesar comes up around Sept to Oct.
When the Swift was launched back in 2005, the car was credited for creating the segment of premium hatchbacks, a segment in which it has led since launch. It also transformed the company’s image to a sporty and youthful one. The company has already made an investment of INR 550 crores for the domestic models development. It has also outlined a further INR 17 to 18 crores for communication and marketing.
While most of the bookings have been for the diesel variant, many have also upgraded bookings over the outgoing model. During the car’s launch in 2005, the initial monthly sales of the car were 3,500 units, which increased to 10,000 units per month by the fiscal year 2009-10. Srivastava also added that the new Swift would have a three month wait period. The car has commanded a wait period ever since it was launched six years ago.