Cars have just got dearer with major automobile firms, including Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai and General Motors, increasing prices this month in order to offset rising input costs.
The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Friday reported a 4.5 per cent increase in total sales at 1,53,435 units in October.
The company had sold 115,433 units in the corresponding month last year, MSI said in a statement.
Automobile exports from India recovered in the first quarter with all vehicle segments, including passenger vehicles and two-wheelers, witnessing growth following an improvement in the pandemic situation across various international markets. As per the latest SIAM data, total vehicle exports during the April-June quarter this fiscal stood at 14,19,430 units as compared with 436,500 units in the same period of 2020-21 which saw massive disruptions due to the COVID lockdowns across the country, hampering sales as well overseas shipments. SIAM director general Rajesh Menon told PTI that while two-wheeler shipments were better than previous three years, passenger vehicles, three-wheelers and commercial vehicles export numbers were yet to catch up with numbers in the first quarter of 2018-19 fiscal.
The car will be priced up to Rs 805,000.
Former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India, Jagdish Khattar, passed away on Monday morning following a cardiac arrest, according to people close to him. Khattar (79), a former bureaucrat, was considered as one of the most high profile leaders of the Indian automotive industry, laying the foundation for Maruti's future growth after the government began its disinvestment in 2002 and gradually exited from its joint venture with Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC). He had joined the then Maruti Udyog Ltd in July 1993 as director (marketing) and went on to become executive director (marketing) in the next six years.
India's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), is focused on getting 50 per cent of its customers' car-financing transactions executed through its Smart Finance platform by next year. Shashank Srivastava, executive director-sales, MSIL, said this will help the company turn its website into a single-window channel through which customers can select their models, find dealers, and arrange financing. He said there is a likelihood that 100 per cent of its customers availing of financing will take it through Smart Finance. To date, the company has disbursed Rs 6,500-crore loans via Smart Finance to around 100,000 customers, accounting for 28 per cent of all finance-based car-purchase transactions for the company.
The company had introduced the AGS technology in India with Celerio and it currently offers it in Alto K10 and WagonR also.
The figures are encouraging for the auto industry amid apprehension that due to higher cost and lack of fuel availability, cars with stricter emission standards may not be popular in initial stages. Automakers had even cited this confusion as one of the reasons for dwindling car sales in India, reports Arindam Majumder.
Passenger and commercial vehicle prices are expected to rise as automobile companies invest in upgrading vehicles to meet stricter emission norms that kick in from April next year. The Indian automobile industry is currently working to make their products meet the second phase of Bharat Stage VI, equivalent to Euro-VI emission norms, in real time driving conditions. Four-wheeler passenger and commercial vehicles will need more sophisticated equipment to be added to meet the next level of emission standards.
India's car market leader Maruti Suzuki India unveiled two concept models - sedan Ciaz and crossover SX4 S-Cross - as it looks to enhance its position in the bigger sedan segment going forward.
MSIL has been asked to suggest a new formula.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday reported a 30.8 per cent increase in total sales at 1,60,442 units in September. The company had sold 1,22,640 units in September last year, MSI said in a statement.
Several carmakers, including car market leader Maruti Suzuki India pulled the plug on diesel models citing higher costs for BSVI variants leaving buyers with limited options.
Sales of mini cars comprising Alto and WagonR were at 11,577 units as compared to 37,710 units in July last year, down 69.3 per cent.
While Hyundai Motor India reported a marginal growth, Toyota Kirloskar Motor witnessed a dip in sales last month.
The order, which came on Monday, stated that revenue authorities cannot split the agreement when the parties to the agreement considered the royalty and technical knowhow as a single package.
The company sold 1,97,685 units of Dzire in 2013-14 fiscal.
The company sold 1,97,685 units of Dzire in 2013-14 fiscal.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is planning to invest around Rs 18,000 crore on a new manufacturing facility in Haryana, as per a top company official. The new plant would replace the company's Gurugram-based facility and is expected to have an installed production capacity of 7.5-10 lakh units per annum. While confirming the Rs 18,000 crore investment plan, MSI chairman RC Bhargava told PTI that the company had always planned to shift the Gurugram facility to a nearby location.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is neither shifting investments nor jobs from Haryana to Gujarat by shifting production of its compact sedan Dzire, company chairman RC Bhargava said on Tuesday. The company is maximising the efficiency of production at its two plants at Haryana and the parent Suzuki's Gujarat plant, keeping in mind the demand of its multiple models.
Maruti's compact segment comprising New WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire, and utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Ertiga, XL6, S-Cross and Vitara Brezza saw robust sales, while the mini segment comprising Alto, S-Presso and Old WagonR saw negative growth.
MSI launched the Alto in September 2000. The company then introduced a 1,000-cc version of the car, the Alto K10, in August 2010.
The company said it will inspect the steering column for 1,492 vehicles -- Ertiga: 306 units, Swift: 592 units, Dzire: 581 units and A-Star: 13 units manufactured between October 19, 2013 and 26th October 2013.
Tata Motors, India's third largest passenger vehicle maker, took pole position in the competitive sport utility vehicle (SUV) market in October, reveals the data from industry sources. Riding high on the Punch - the sub-compact SUV offering launched on October 18 - the Tata group flagship sold a record 23,381 units in October, higher than 20,022 units sold by archrival Mahindra & Mahindra, 18,538 units sold by Hyundai Motor India, and 15,931 units sold by Kia Motors India. Utility vehicles - that include SUVs and multipurpose vehicles - accounted for almost one in every two passenger vehicles sold in India in the first seven months of the current financial year, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Maruti has committed Rs 5 crore towards the programme.
Bringing curtains down on the glorious saga of the Maruti 800 model, Maruti Suzuki India has stopped production of the iconic car brand that had been carrier for millions of Indian middle class families, since last month, said senior official of the auto maker.
India's economy will see the fastest dollar nominal growth in the world in 2015, Credit Suisse says.
Brushing aside concerns raised by proxy advisory firm IiAS on Suzuki's investment in the EV project, Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava on Thursday asserted that there was nothing in it against the interest of the company and its shareholders as it is part of an earlier arrangement. Countering the criticism from the proxy advisory firm, Bhargava noted that all models produced at Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG), including EVs, would be ultimately sold by Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) in the marketplace. IiAS has raised serious questions regarding the decision of the Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) to invest directly in the EV project instead of MSI doing it.
The government is working on a recall policy.
While sales of compact cars, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire declined, sales of utility vehicles, including Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga, increased 26.3 per cent to 19,177 units as compared to 15,178 in the year-ago month.
Among these will be all-new Swift and Dzire.
Elaborating on the pricing formula of cars produced by Maruti Suzuki at its facilities in Haryana, the company said it marked up the cost of production of the car to generate profits.
The phenomenal success of Xcent, Grand and Santa Fe increased volumes creating positive momentum
New subsidiary to supply cars to Maruti Suzuki
MSI sells a range of models from entry-level hatchback Alto to S-CROSS, priced between Rs 2.99 lakh and Rs 12.39 (ex-showroom prices Delhi) lakh, respectively.
Maruti and Hyundai see marginal rise in demand for entry-level hatchbacks.
Analysts say in spite of its recent recall of 100,000 Swift, Ertiga and Dzire cars, Maruti's outlook remains stable.
The economy segment of India's car market is unlikely to revive soon term as inflation and prices prompt buyers to defer purchases. The share of entry-level cars in the passenger vehicle market dropped to the lowest in seven years at the end of the Financial Year 2021-22 (FY22). A recovery in the segment will be largely driven by the overall economic growth, improvement in income levels, and easing of semiconductor shortage, say carmakers and analysts.
Indian consumers are likely to get respite from rising prices just before the festival season. Some consumer companies, including automakers, have indicated that they are planning to pause price hikes just before demand picks up in August, while keeping a close eye on volatile raw material prices.