Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) Automobile giant Maruti Suzuki, which recently faced a 13-day strike at its manufacturing facility in Manesar, Friday reported a drop of 8.8 percent in its sales for June.

Sales stood at 80,298 vehicles as against 88,091 vehicles sold in June 2010.

“During the month production in the company’s Manesar plant was impacted due to a strike by a section of employees. There was no production for 10.5 days,” the company said in a statement.

The 13-day strike, which started on June 4, cost Maruti Suzuki a production loss of around 12,600 cars pegged at a value of Rs.380 crore.

The company’s facility at Manesar produces its bestselling hatchbacks and sedans like the Swift, Swift Dzire, A-Star and SX4.

According to the company, production was further impacted by the planned maintenance shutdown at the company’s Gurgaon facilities that were closed for six days in June.

Segment wise, sales of the company’s bestselling hatchback cars, including Alto, Wagon-R, Zen, Swift, Ritz and A-Star, grew by 2.3 percent in June and stood at 52,599 units as compared to 51,418 units in June, 2010.

The company’s sedan segment, which includes cars like SX4 and D’zire, reported a sharp fall in sales — 60.4 percent at 3,199 units in June from 8,081 units in the corresponding period of last year.

Exports dropped sharply by 32.7 percent in June and stood at 10,278 units from 15,279 units in June last year.

The cumulative sales till July, in the current fiscal which were effected by high interest and fuel cost, grew at a meagre pace of 0.6 percent at 281,526 units from 283,324 units in the corresponding quarter of 2010-11.