New Delhi, May 1 (Inditop) India’s largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki’s cumulative sales for April rose 15.1 percent to 71,748 units, up from 62,336 units sold the same month last year, the company said Friday.

While its domestic sales increased 9 percent to 64,857 units, its exports during the month surged 146.4 percent to 6,891 units as against 2,797 units sold in April 2008.

Maruti, despite being India’s largest car manufacturer, trails behind Hyundai in the export segment, and had last week announced plans to aggressively foray into the overseas market.

“This is the fourth consecutive month of sales crossing the 70,000 units mark,” a company statement said.

The company suffered almost a 30 percent decline in profits last fiscal due to escalating input prices and low sales last fiscal.

Last month, the highest volumes were driven by the A2 segment, which includes its compact offerings such as Alto, Wagon R, Swift, Zen and the newly-launched A-Star, selling 46,817 units at a growth of 9 percent.

However, the maximum growth was recorded in its sedan offerings in the A3 segment comprising the SX4 and the Swift D’zire, which clocked a 69 percent increase in sales at 7,066 units.

Sales of its flagship model, Maruti 800, which has been on the roads for over 27 years and will be phased out by 2014 declined 47 percent to 2,345 units during the month.

The automaker’s sports utility vehicle Grand Vitara, and its multi-utility vehicle Gypsy did a revival, recording 1,231 percent growth to 905 units as against 68 cars sold in April last year.