Maruti Suzuki, India' largest car manufacturer suffered a decline of more than 40 per cent in sales in August, mainly due to Manesar lockout.

In August, Maruti sold 54,154 cars, down 41 per cent from the corresponding month of the previous year. Local sales slipped 35 per cent to 50,129 units, while exports dropped 72 per cent to 4,025 units.

The lockout hit sales of Swift and Dzire the worst. Sales of the Swift suffered a decline of 62 per cent, while Desire sales slipped 60 per cent during the month.

Production at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant was halted on July 21 in wake of the worst worker unrest in the company history, in which a senior official lost his life and nearly hundred others got severe injuries. Production at the plant could be resumed only on August 20.

Most other car manufacturer which reported growth in sales in the country admitted that most of the growth was due to high demand for diesel vehicles.

Rakesh Srivastava, vice-president at Hyundai Motor India, said, "Despite a sluggish market, sales have grown due to increased preference for diesel vehicles and niche consumer focused promotions."

Rival car manufacturers M&M and Tata Motors enjoyed increases of 22 per cent and 12 per cent in year-on-year sales in August. Hyundai Motor Co., however, announced that its sales slipped 8 per cent to 46,886 in the same month.