By IANS
New Delhi : Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has created a new record by selling 764,942 vehicles in 2007-08, the highest ever in its history, marking a 13.3 percent growth over the previous year.
However, the entry level Maruti-800, the popular people’s car, recorded a dip of 12.2 percent in its sales over 2006-2007, according to a company statement Tuesday
The latest baby to roll out of the Maruti stable, Dzire, launched March 26, sold 5,658 units within just six days.
Alto, the model currently popular among the middle-class, continued to be the country’s top selling car, notching sales of 227,173 units last year. This is the second consecutive year that Alto sales have crossed the 200,000 mark.
The total Maruti sales figure of 764,942 includes export of 53,024 vehicles, again the highest since it started production in 1983 and marked a growth of 34.90 percent in its exports.
Buoyed by these developments and terming last year as “the best ever for the company so far”, Maruti said it has strengthened its leadership in the A2 segment with Alto, Zen, WagonR, Swift models while attaining leadership in the A3 segment with Baleno, Dzire, Esteem, SX4.
In the upper-end A3 segment, Maruti sold 49,335 units, a 66.10 percent growth as compared to the previous year.
During the last year, the company launched SX4 (May 2007), Grand Vitara (July 2007) and Dzire, making it seven new models in three years. It also unveiled the Concept A-Star model, created by an in-house team of designers from Maruti and Suzuki Motor Corporation, at the World Auto Expo in New Delhi earlier this year.
Keen to pursue its ambitious export plans, Maruti has tied up with the Adani Group for a mega car terminal at the Mundra Port, which will be operational by 2008-end.