Maruti Suzuki's car sales in the run-up to the big festive month has seen a marginal rise compared to August this year. The carmaker clocked 1.44 lakh units of passenger cars in the country, up from 1.43 units sold in the previous month. The slight bump in sales came despite its utility vehicles likes SUVs and MPVs witnessing marginal drop to 61,549 units last month. The silver lining for Maruti Suzuki has been the performance of its CNG cars which contributed largely to its overall sales.

In September, Maruti Suzuki sold 53,000 CNG vehicles across India. The carmaker offers as many as 13 models in the passenger car segment with CNG powertrain. The latest entrant in Maruti's CNG lineup is the new generation Swift hatchback. According to the carmaker, the Swift CNG has been able to clock 4,471 units within a month since its launch. Maruti Suzuki launched the Swift CNG in India on September 12 at a starting price of ₹8.19 lakh (ex-showroom). It has joined the likes of Ertiga, Brezza, Alto, Dzire and WagonR among other Maruti cars in its CNG lineup. 

Maruti sales in September: Small cars vs utility vehicles

Small cars continue to be the biggest sales driver for Maruti Suzuki. The likes of Alto, WagonR, Swift and Baleno contributed more than 70,000 units in September. Compared to the small cars, Maruti Suzuki's utility vehicle segment share has dropped marginally. This segment continues to be dominated by the likes of Brezza, Ertiga and Fronx. However, other low sales volumes of other utility vehicles like Jimny have not helped Maruti to increase sales.

Maruti Suzuki hybrid car sales

Maruti Suzuki also said that the sales of its hybrid vehicles have also picked up compared to 2023. On an average, the carmaker has been selling around 1,156 units of strong hybrid cars every month in the ongoing financial year, up from an average of 870 units last year. Maruti has models like Invicto MPV and Grand Vitara SUV in the strong hybrid vehicle lineup. The carmaker hopes tax sops from more states will help to boost sales in this segment too.

Maruti's overall sales in the passenger vehicle segment has dropped from 1.50 lakh during the same month last year. However, Maruti feels October will be better in terms of sales given that the festive season will be at its peak this month. The carmaker hopes Dusshera and Diwali will yield better numbers but is likely to drop again from November. Since April this year, Maruti has already sold more than 10 lakh cars and appears to be on track to achieve its annual sales target.

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