Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday said its total sales increased by 3 per cent at 1,81,630 units in July, led by robust demand for its utility vehicle product range.

The company, which had dispatched a total of 1,75,916 units to its dealers in July 2022, became the leading player in the SUV space last month with a market share of 24.6 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Shashank Srivastava said the company led the SUV segment in July with sales volume of 46,620 units.

He noted that the company's market share in the SUV space has grown from 7.1 per cent in July last year to 24.6 per cent by July-end this year.

Srivastava said that the SUV segment was now accounting for 49.1 per cent of the overall domestic passenger vehicle sales.

The vertical accounted for 43 per cent of the overall passenger vehicle sales last year, he said.

"With the company growing faster than the industry last month, our overall market share has grown to 43.3 per cent as compared with 41.8 per cent in July last year," Srivastava said.

He also noted that the company's premium sales network Nexa has become the country's second largest car brand with sales of 52,450 units in July.

MSI said its total domestic passenger vehicle sales were at 1,52,126 units last month as compared to 1,42,850 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 6 per cent.

The company said its utility vehicles, consisting of Brezza, Ertiga, Fronx, Grand Vitara, Jimny and XL6, clocked sales of 62,049 units last month, a jump of over two-fold as against 23,272 units dispatched in July 2022.

Sales of mini segment cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, declined to 9,590 units as against 20,333 units in July 2022.

Sales of compact cars, including Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis, and Swift, also fell by 21 per cent to 67,102 units as compared to 84,818 units in the year-ago period.

MSI said its exports last month stood at 22,199 units over 20,311 units in the same month last year. PTI MSS SHW

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