After 29 years, Maruti crosses 10 m domestic sales

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India today said it has crossed the 10 million units milestone of cumulative sales in the domestic market since it started selling cars 29 years back.

"The 10 millionth vehicle, a Red Swift Vxi, was dispatched to Coimbatore today morning from the company's Manesar plant," the company said in a statement.

Maruti Suzuki India had rolled out its first car -- an M800 -- in December 1983 and attained five million domestic sales in February 2006.

"The next five million domestic sales have been achieved in six years," the company said.

Commenting on crossing the milestone, MSI Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said: "Maruti Suzuki's success story is closely linked with the success story of India in the last two decades. Even as India has grown and transformed, Maruti Suzuki has evolved to meet changing demands."

The company that started off as a joint venture between the government of India and Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, had transformed personal transportation in India with its M800 model, which till date continues to find many buyers across the country.

While Maruti 800 and Omni powered sales for almost two decades, the Alto has been India's best-selling car for the last over seven years, the company said.

In recent years, the success of WagonR and Swift, among others, has accelerated the company's progress towards the 10 million mark, it added.

"We will continue to drive the growth and evolution of India's car market," Nakanishi said.