Saturday, 9 November 2013
The country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India announced that the sales of its popular compact car Swift has crossed the 1 million (10 lakh) mark in India. Maruti had launched the petrol variant of the Swift hatchback in May 2005 and the diesel variant was launched in 2007. Swift is one of the most popular hatchbacks in the country due to its high affordability, fuel efficiency and acceptable performance under local conditions.
Mayank Pareek, Chief Operating Officer of MSI, said "The Maruti Suzuki Swift has been well-received by our patrons. The car is best-known for its design, product quality and brand assurance.” According to Pareek, the A2 plus segment (to which swift belongs) is the largest segment of the Indian car market in terms of value. Pareek claimed, "“The A2 plus segment is a promising part of the total market, with sales of up to 30,000 units a month. The Swift, apart from being the pioneer of the premium hatchback segment, is also one of the largest contributors to its sales, at around 50%."
Maruti Suzuki Swift is also one of the earliest compact cars in India to introduce a diesel variant. Pareek says that the diesel variant of Swift has been a hit among the customers and the ratio of diesel Swift cars sold against the petrol cars is 60:40 on a cumulative basis. Pareek said that Swift has done extremely well despite of the car industry in the country facing one of its toughest times at the moment because of the rising fuel prices and increase in the price of components which results in lower demand.
Pareek said, "While the industry, up to October this year, has declined by around 4.7%, the Swift sales have gone up by a whopping 18%." He added that the demand for the car has not declined despite of the labour issues at the Swift's home plant which is situated at Manesar. He claimed that the company has a capacity to produce 20,000 units per month at Manesar which is sufficient to fulfil the demand. Maruti Suzuki India is also said to be working on a left-hand-drive configuration of the Swift hatchback. The details are not revealed yet but we'll keep you updated on this one.
