Moneycontrol Bureau
Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, sold 1.09 lakh units in December last year, data released by the company show, 20.8 percent higher than the 90,924 units it sold in December 2013.
Sales were slightly ahead of expectations, as the carmaker likely offered healthy year-end discounts in order to push 2014 stock and as buyers bought automobiles ahead of the expiry of excise-cut benefits whose rollback from today is expected to make cars costlier.
The increase in sales was powered by a 13.3 percent growth in domestic sales (98,109 units versus 86,613) and a 171 percent increase in exports (11,682 versus 4,311).
Brokerage firm Nomura was expecting a 7.5 percent increase in auto sales for Maruti.
The company's shares were trading 0.6 percent higher following release of the data.
In the segment-wise break-up that the company provided in its statement, sales of compact cars (which comprises of the Swift, Ritz, Dzire and new entrant Celerio), mid-size cars (Ciaz replacing SX4), UV (Gypsy, Ertiga) and vans (Eeco, Omni) grew while those for the mini segment (Alto, Wagon R) fell.
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