The country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, has recorded its best-ever profit during the fourth quarter (January-March) of FY’13, largely on the back of higher sales of new models such as Ertiga, DZire and Swift, cost reduction and localisation efforts.

Defying the worst slowdown witnessed in domestic car sales in the last 12 years, the company’s net profit during the period increased 80 per cent at Rs 1,147.5 crore as against the same quarter a year ago. Net sales during the during the fourth quarter of FY’13 went up 9.4 per cent at Rs 12,566.6 crore, but Q4 volumes fell almost 5 per cent to 3.43 lakh units with demand for popular petrol models like the Alto and WagonR slowing down.

The Q4 results do not include the merger of Suzuki Powertrain India, maker of diesel engines, with Maruti Suzuki. Maruti also merged seven insurance-related arms into itself, giving it additional cash of Rs 200 crore.

While cost savings and localisation efforts had a positive impact of 130 basis points on the margins, a weakening yen helped Maruti gain another 120 basis points through lower royalty payouts and cheaper import costs, CFO Ajay Seth said.

Significant gains during the quarter also accrued from a 1 per cent price increase the company announced in January, and the increased sale of higher margin diesel variants like of the Ertiga, Swift and Dzire. Ebitda margin during Q4 stood at 10.6 per cent, higher than 7.5 per cent in the same quarter last year.

For the full fiscal FY’13, net profits rose almost 41 per cent at Rs 2,300 crore, while net sales went up 21.37 per cent at Rs 42,123 crore. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, shares of the firm ended the day at Rs 1,673.45, a surge 5.26 per cent.