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Maruti June sales at 26,092

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, July 2

MARUTI Udyog Ltd (MUL) has sold 26,092 passenger cars in June. This was 64.2 per cent higher than the sales of 15,908 units sold during the corresponding month of the previous year. However, this was substantially lower than the May 2001 sales of 32,264 units.

MUL officials, however, point out that the June sales was lower due to a week's maintenance shutdown at the company's plant at Gurgaon near here. There was no production during the shutdown, which is a part of the company's biannual maintenance procedure .

An MUL release said that despite a sluggish market, Maruti's cumulative sales in April to June 2001 was about 17 per cent higher than the same period last year. The company's marketshare in the domestic market touched 60 per cent in the quarter April to June this year, up from 50 per cent in the same period last year.

The company's best-selling entry level model, the Maruti 800 sold 10,860 units in June. The Omni van, another of MUL's low-end models, sold 4,236 units.

Maruti's share in the competitive B-segment, representing the mid and top-end of the small car segment, was 43 per cent during the quarter April to June 2001, higher as compared to a share of 30 per cent during the same quarter last year.

The company had sold 5,975 units of the Zen, 1,931 units of the Wagon-R and 2,192 units of the Alto during June 2001.

The company has also sold 812 units of the Esteem, its popular mid-size car and 86 units of the Baleno and Altura together in June.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), the second largest passenger car manufacturer, has posted sales of 8,502 cars in June. This represented an increase of 39 per cent over the sales of 6,116 units recorded during the same month last year and a marginal incre ase over the sales of 8,109 units recorded during May 2001.

In the first quarter of the current fiscal, HMIL has sold 23,744 units, a growth of 13.6 per cent over the same period last fiscal, when the company had sold 20,903 cars. The total sales this calendar year till June has been 47,609 units.

General Motors India Ltd (GMI), the subsidiary of General Motors Corporation of the US, has reported sales of 578 cars during June this year. Of this, the Astra's sales constituted 163 units and the company's low-end mid-size car - the Corsa - sold 415 u nits in June.

In comparison, GMI had sold 570 cars in June last year, of which Astras constituted 190 units and the Corsa 380 units. In May 2001, the company had sold 170 Astras and 452 Corsas, totalling 622 units.