Maruti Suzuki Faces Sharp Decline in Small Car Sales, Utility Vehicles Save The Day

India's automotive leader, Maruti Suzuki, shared its “latest sales figures” for “May 2025”. On the surface, everything looks rosy— their overall sales didn't drop at all. But if you look underneath, there's a striking detail: a pretty steep fall in the demand for their small cars. It's a real head-turner!

Detailed Sales Figures in Small Car Segment

According to Maruti Suzuki's press release— total sales in May 2025 = 180,077 units (138,690 domestic units + 10,168 units to other OEMs + 31,219 units exported). Total Domestic Passenger Vehicle sales were 135,962 units, compared to 144,002 units last year, accounting for a decrease of 5.6%. Mini-segment sales (Alto, S-Presso) fell 31.6% to 6,776 units, while Compact segment sales (Swift, Baleno, WagonR, etc.) decreased by 9.8% to 61,502 units. Utility Vehicles (Brezza, Ertiga, Fronx, etc.) provided stability to total sales with slight growth of utility vehicle sales from 54,204 to 54,899 units.

Why A Decline ?

The decline in small car sales is attributed to higher ownership costs, changes in regulations, and diminished affordability for first-time buyers. Maruti Suzuki’s management said that the latest income tax relief measures, while helpful to some extent, will not help to substantially drive demand for lower-income groups - making it harder with two-wheelers to upgrade to a car.

The Way Forward for Reviving Growth

In the short-term, Maruti Suzuki aims to grow its utility vehicle line-up and continue to grow transparent export sales, which grew by 80% in May. Maruti Suzuki also wants policy makers to consider introducing buyer-friendly incentives so small cars can be bought easily.

Maruti Suzuki’s growth path is contingent on policy support, continuing with innovation within its product lineup.