Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) wholesales jumped 25.8 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) TO 405,000 units in December, driven by sustained demand after the goods and services tax (GST) rationalisation in September and buyers advancing purchases ahead of annual price hikes by automakers in January.
For calendar year 2025, domestic PV wholesales rose 5.7 per cent Y-o-Y to record 4.55 million units.
Growth for the full year lagged the December surge as demand stayed muted in the first half and picked up only after the GST rate cut, said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), during a video press conference.
MSIL, the country’s largest carmaker, reported a 37.3 per cent Y-o-Y rise in domestic PV wholesales to 178,646 units in December. Sales in the mini segment, comprising Alto and S-Presso, nearly doubled to 14,225 units.
In September, Maruti rolled out a “strategic pricing” initiative that cut prices by more than the effective GST rate reduction to revive demand in the mini segment. The programme, which ran until December 31, is now under review. Banerjee said the company was evaluating whether to extend the initiative in the coming weeks as demand, particularly for mini cars, remain strong.
“In mini cars, we have about one-and-a-half months of pending bookings. Customers are keen to purchase vehicles at older prices. We will soon decided whether to revert to GST rate cut-equivalent pricing or continue with strategic pricing,” he said.
MSIL is also reconfiguring its production lines to meet higher demand for mini cars, partly by trimming output in other segments. “Every customer is important to us. Production constraints exist, and we are trying to balance them,” Banerjee said.
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