Maruti Suzuki sales up 12% in August

India's leading car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd said on Thursday it logged 12 per cent growth in sales in August.

In a regulatory filing with the BSE, the company said it sold 132,211 units (119.931 domestic/12,280 exports) last month against 117,864 units (106,781/11,083) during August 2015.

While the sales of utility vehicles zoomed last month to 16,806 units up by 114.5 per cent, the mid-size car segment (Ciaz) the compact segment (Swift, Ritz, Baleno, Celerio and Dzire) and the van segment also logged sales growth.

However Maruti Suzuki saw negative growth in its mini segment (Alto, WagonR) and super compact segment (Dzire Tour) last month as compared to sales logged in August 2015.

"The next three months of festive season should see some positive growth in the automotive sector mainly because of good monsoon, bonanza to government employees under the seventh pay commission and some attractive discounts offered by OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) on few models," Abdul Majeed, Partner-Price Waterhouse was quoted as saying in a statement on sales trend for automobile companies.

"The new compact SUV (sports utility vehicle) models will entice customers to buy these vehicles. First time customers will prefer petrol version of the vehicles compared to diesel because of the uncertainty around these vehicles in the medium to long term," he added.