The country's largest car maker - Maruti Suzuki - on Wednesday said that its total sales in March fell by 47 per cent to 83,792 units on the back of coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Maruti Suzuki sold 158,076 units in the same month last year. Maruti Suzuki has however, said that the sales during March 2020 are not comparable with sales in March 2019 due to the suspension of operations with effect from March 22, 2020, in line with national policy.
Maruti Suzuki's sales of mini and compact segments comprising of cars such as WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire, Tour S, Alto and S-Presso slumped 43.1 per cent to 56,507 units.
Total passenger car sales declined by 43.3 per cent to 58,370 units.
Maruti Suzuki exports plunged by 55 per cent to 4712 units from 10,463 units exported in March last year.
To curb the spread of the virus, the government last week sent the country into a 21-day lockdown, forcing automakers such as Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ford Motor, Toyota Motor Corp and Hyundai Motor to suspend manufacturing.
For the financial year 2019-20, Maruti Suzuki sales fell 16 per cent as the auto industry, already reeling under pressure from a slowing economy and lean demand, was further hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
Maruti Suzuki, which has about 50 per cent share of the country's passenger car market, sold 15.6 lakh vehicles during the year ended March 31, compared with 18.6 lakh in the previous year, the company said on Wednesday.
Maruti Suzuki shares were trading 1.55 per cent lower at Rs 4,221, outperforming the Sensex which was down 4 per cent.
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