Maruti Udyog achieves highest ever annual sales at 6,35,629 vehicles in 2006-07

Maruti Udyog Ltd has announced that the Company sold 6,35,629 vehicles in the domestic market in 2006-07, the highest ever annual sales in the Company's history.

This marked a growth of 21 per cent over domestic sales in 2005-06.

In all, the Company sold 6,74,924 vehicles during the year, including exports of 39,295 vehicles. Exports grew by 13 per cent over 2006-07.

March sales - highest ever in a month

The Company sold 64,556 vehicles in the domestic market in March 2007, the highest ever in any month, This signified a growth of 6 per cent over March 2006.

Including exports of 7,216 units, the Company sold 71,772 vehicles in March 2007.

During the month, sales of A2 segment vehicles grew by 26 per cent compared to March 2006. Maruti Omni registered its highest ever monthly sales, at 8,566 units.

The combined sales figures for February plus March this year show a growth of 26.5 per cent over the same period last year. (During February and March 2006, sales were generally impacted owing to budget expectations. While domestic sales in February 2006 were unusually low, sales in March 2006 had shot up. For that reason, a comparison of sales of February plus March for 2006 and 2007 would now give a more accurate picture of the growth performance.)

The record sales provided a fitting end to a successful year during which the Company launched three new models to a rousing response, began production at its new plant, forayed into the diesel car market and remained on top in customer satisfaction ratings.

Accelerated Growth

Sales showed robust growth throughout the fiscal year, but more significantly in the second half. While growth in the first half of the year was 17.8 per cent, it surged to 23.8 per cent in the last six months.

These growth rates were achieved despite the (old) Zen and Baleno not being available for many months during the year.

Sales were powered by, among others, the Alto which grew by a whopping 41.1 per cent over the previous year. It became the first Indian car ever to achieve 2,00,000 units of domestic sales in a single fiscal year (11 months), and closed the year at 2,23,846 units, higher than the total domestic sales of any other car Company in India.

Under the pre-owned cars initiative, TrueValue, the company bought and sold over 84,000 pre-owned cars during the year. Of the customers who sold. their pre-owned cars to TrueValue, over 92 percent exchanged it for a new Maruti car.

Under Maruti Insurance the Company issued 13,95,036 policies including 5,34,152 fresh insurance policies. Total policies grew 29.4 per cent over 2005-06.

The Company continued, to expand its network, with sales outlets growing to 396 in 225 cities (from 350 outlets in 212 cities at the start of the year). Service workshops went up to 2445 (from 2096 at the start of the year), across 1172 towns and cities.

Over 100,000 customers were attended to in over 200 mega service camps across the country.

The network for True Value pre owned cars grew to 213 outlets in 150 cities. (187 outlets at the start of the year)

New Models and New Plant

The year was memorable also because all the three new models that the Company launched received an. overwhelming response.

WagonR Duo, which can run on both petrol and LPG, provides customers the benefits of lower running cost, without the safety risk associated with unapproved LPG kits. The Zen Estilo won hearts for its style and looks, achieving sales of 25,000 units in a record time. The Swift Diesel, powered by a state-of-the 1.3 litre DDiS engine, was also lapped up by customers soon after launch.

Towards the latter part of the fiscal, the Company began operations at its new assembly plant in Manesar, The plant, with an initial capacity of 100,000 units a year, is being scaled up to a capacity of 300,000 units a year.

The Company's diesel foray was powered by a diesel engine plant under Suzuki Powertrajn India Ltd, a joint venture of Suzuki Motor Corporation and the Company.

New initiative: Autocard

The Company launched a comprehensive rewards and loyalty programme for customers, encouraging them to use Company authorised accessories, spare parts and service stations, The programme, in partnership with Citibank and Indian Oil Corporation, can potentially offer a benefit of close to Rs 20,000 over four years to a loyal customer.

New initiative: Gifting a Maruti car online

The Company also unveiled a unique web-based programme inviting Indians overseas to gift a car to their near and dear ones in India by placing the order and paying online. The programme, called Dil Se, enables transactions to be conducted in a transparent and convenient manner.

Accolades

The Company has been rated India's Most Respected Automobile Company by Businessworld magazine.

For the seventh consecutive year, customers rated the Company first in the Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by J D Power Asia Pacific. The Company was also rated first, for the third year in a row, in the Sales Satisfaction Survey.

In the Total Customer Satisfaction Study 2006 by TNS Automotive, Maruti 800, Zen, Swift and Esteem were rated first in their respective categories.

Corporate Citizen

During the year, the Company started managing a second Institute of Driving Training and Research in New Delhi.

In the 15 Maruti Driving Schools, set up by the Company in partnership with its dealerships across the country, as many as 11000 people have been trained.

Sales figures are given below:

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Segment	Models			For Mar	2007		April 06 to March 07
			2007	2006	%Change 2006-07	2005-06	%Change
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A1	M800		6141	10937	-43.9%	79245	89223	-11.2%
C	Omni, Versa	8661	8390	3.2%	83091	66366	25.2%
A2	Alto, Wagon-R,	
	Zen, Swift		47068	37279	26.3%	440375	335136	31.4%
A3	Baleno, Esteem	2414	3735	-35.4%	29697	31939	-7.0%
Total Passenger Cars    	64284	60341	6.5%	632408	522664	21.0%
MUV	Gypsy, Vitara	272	800	-66.0%	3221	4374	-26.4%
Domestic			64556	61141	5.6%	635629	527038	20.6%
Export 			7216	2055	251.1%	39295	34784	13.0%
Total Sales		71772	63196	13.6%	674924	561822	20.1%
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Source : Equity Bulls

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