Maruti Suzuki is set to regain its 50% market share in India at the end of the 2013/14 financial year, its best performance for more than four years.

The brand has benefited from a combination of aggressive marketing strategies and an economic downturn in the country which has seen consumers stick with tried and tested brands. During the current fiscal year ending 31 March, 2013, Maruti has seen a gain of 4% in its share of the passenger car market

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In the April-February period, its share was 49.8%. While Maruti has always been the market leader in new car sales, the company has also taken a larger slice of the light vans and utility vehicle markets.

Mayank Pareek, Maruti’s chief operating officer for marketing and sales, said: “In the car segment, Maruti’s market share is just short of 50% which is the highest in the last 4-5 years. We have gained 4.3% in this segment over the last year and in seven of 11 months of this financial year.”

The company’s growth comes when overall industry sales in India are down 4.6% year on year.

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Maruti’s performance has been driven by three best-selling models – Alto, Dzire and Swift. Alto sold 232,000 units in the April-February period, nearly double that of its closest competitor. Dzire sold 180,000 and Swift 179,000. These are also the three top selling cars in India.

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Pareek said some of Maruti’s gains were due to a shift away from diesels which made big gains in 2012 because the fuel was cheaper. In November 2012 diesels accounted for 62% of all passenger vehicle sales. But this year the share is down to 52% and Pareek added that Maruti has also concentrated on looking for market niches [it recently added some automatic models – ed] and made a concerted push into the hinterland – smaller, rural markets, with populations of less than 10,000 people, which have shown 14-15% growth.