The Maruti Alto registered 2,64,544 unit sales in India last year beating the Volkswagen Golf, Daihatsu Tanto as well as the Honda Jazz to the title.
India’s best selling hatchback the Maruti Suzuki Alto has now been crowned as the world’s best selling car of 2014 as it registered overall sales of 2,64,544 units in the country. With the overwhelming sales report, the Alto managed to beat the likes of Volkswagen Golf from Germany, Daihatsu Tanto, Toyota Aqua and Honda Fit (Jazz in India) from Japan as well as the Fiat Palio from Brazil to the title.
Missing the top spot by a margin of around 10,000 units was the Volkswagen Golf as it sold 2,55,044 units last year in Germany, while the Daihatsu Tanto kei car sold 2,34,456 units in Japan. The Toyota Aqua came in fourth with 2,33,209 units sold last year. The Honda Jazz may not be very popular in India but was one of the bestselling models in its home market with 2,02,838 units sold in 2014. Apart from the Alto, Maruti also had its very popular Swift that reserves the 6th spot on the top 10 best selling cars list with 2,02,831 units sold.
World’s largest small car market Brazil came in with very disappointing results this year. While the country did not have any entry in the top 5 list, its bestselling car for 25 years the Volkswagen Gol suffered a major 30 percent drop in sales compared to 2013 and closed the year with 1,83,366 units sold. The popular Fiat Palio on the other hand managed to surpass the Gol and clocked in sales of 1,83,745 units in 2014.
While the Alto has been on topping the list best selling cars list for 9 consecutive years in India; the entry-level hatchback’s sales have been steadily declining in the domestic market since its peak of retailing 3 lakh units in 2011. A major reason has also been the sluggish market sentiment, while the more recent period saw buyer preferences shift towards compact sedans that have been doing equally well. Maruti updated the Alto in 2012 with a completely new body shell and the Alto K10 was revamped last year equipped with an AMT unit that is bound to bring in more sales owing to the automatic transmission’s popularity.
