Maruti: Maruti Suzuki has maintained its position as India’s largest carmaker after selling 1,67,993 units in June 2025. But this figure is still 6% lower than what it achieved in June 2024. The biggest reason for this decline is the weak demand for smaller and affordable vehicles. While Maruti’s exports showed strong performance, it was not enough to fully cover the slowdown in domestic markets.

Domestic Sales Performance

Maruti Suzuki was able to sell 1,30,151 vehicles in India during June 2025, down from 1,48,195 vehicles sold during June 2024. Sales of passenger vehicles alone declined by 13% to 1,18,906 vehicles. Top-selling low-cost and small hatchback models like Alto, S-Presso, Swift, Baleno, and WagonR declined sharply by 18% to only 60,591 units, while the same cars had sold 73,444 units during the same month last year.

SUV Segment Performance

Even the SUV models had a hard time maintaining demand. Brezza, Fronx, Grand Vitara, and Jimny together recorded a sales figure of 47,947 units, down from 52,373 units in June 2024. Eeco van sold 9,340 units, while the Ciaz sedan had a rise with sales reaching 1,028 units, up from 572 units in June 2024.

Record Exports Bring Relief

While domestic demand weakened, Maruti recorded its best-ever export figures in June 2025. Exports rose by 22% to 37,842 units from 31,033 units a year ago. This points towards a distinct emphasis on international markets as Maruti tries to offset its poor local showing. Besides, supply to other models went up marginally to 8,812 units, providing a minor boost to overall production.

Why Small Cars Lost Buyers

According to Maruti’s Senior Executive Officer Rahul Bharti, shrinking demand for affordable cars is the main reason for the overall fall. In earlier years, passenger vehicle sales used to grow nearly 1.5 times faster than India’s GDP, but now, even though GDP is growing at around 6.5%, car sales are nearly flat. Rahul Bharti said that prices of entry-level cars have risen by over 70% since 2019, largely because of more stringent regulations and stricter safety standards. That has reduced the appeal of budget cars so much that their demand has plummeted by 70%.

Future Challenges for Budget Cars

With stiff regulations making cheap cars more expensive and high inflation, most first-time buyers appear to be shifting away from the segment. Maruti will need to re-evaluate its product and pricing strategies if it is to win back customers in search of entry-level vehicles.