NEW DELHI (TIP): Country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Thrusday said its compact car Celerio has achieved one lakh sales mark in the domestic market in less than 1.5 years after its launch in the country.

Launched in February last year at the Delhi Auto Expo, Celerio is credited with introducing auto gear shift technology in the Indian automobile industry.

“Celerio is the first car in India to introduce the acclaimed auto gear shift technology and almost one-third of sales are of auto gear shift variants,” Maruti Suzuki India executive director, marketing and sales, R S Kalsi said.

Customers appreciated the convenience of automatic gear shifting with no loss in fuel efficiency on Celerio and within a year of its launch the company’s share in the lower hatchback has shot up to 71 per cent from 61 per cent, he added.

Celerio is available in petrol, CNG and diesel fuel options and offer two transmission options — manual as well as auto gear shift.

Maruti had launched Celerio diesel last month. In May this year, the company crossed a major milestone of 1.5 crore units of cumulative production in over three decades since it started selling cars in the country.