Even as Maruti Suzuki's once bread-and-butter M800 model is seeing interest wane among buyers in India, demand for the country's once most iconic car has shot up in markets abroad.
"Our sales have been growing since December 2008. December 2008-July 2009 are great months", Maruti Suzuki India chairman R C Bhargava told reporters in Chennai. He hoped that the next two-three months would yield a double digit growth.
Addressing shareholders at the 31st annual general meeting, which started after observing a minute's silence in memory of slain general manager Awanish Kumar Dev, Maruti Suzuki India chairman R C Bhargava said that security cover at Manesar plant will continue till its staff feels secure.
Maruti has committed Rs 5 crore towards the programme.
Maruti Suzuki India, on Friday launched its latest small car Ritz in both petrol and diesel variants, offered at an introductory price of Rs 3.90-4.99 lakh.
The added new features in the car include leather seat covers, double-din sound system with USB, dual tone interiors, body graphics, full wheel covers and beige parcel tray.
Toyota's India unit will also source two cars manufactured by Maruti Suzuki, the Baleno and Brezza, including their hybrid variants, and in return Toyota will offer its Corolla sedan to Maruti.
Sedans and hatchbacks have both lost market share to SUVs, which now account for more than 50% share of the 4 million-odd-unit PV market in the country.
The company saw production hit by 10,200 units till yesterday, which translates into a loss of about Rs 510 crore (Rs 5.1 billion). In the morning, shares of Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) were trading 0.43 per cent down at Rs 1,217.50 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
In what seems to be a softening of stance, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) has decided not to take any immediate steps to de-recognise the newly instituted Maruti Suzuki Workers' Union (MSWU) of the Manesar unit.
Giving in to rising input cost pressures, the country's largest carmaker by sales, Maruti Suzuki India has increased prices of its vehicles by up to Rs 8,000 across models, except its newly launched compact car Alto K10.
Expressing solidarity with agitating Maruti Suzuki workers, about a hundred protesters from various trade unions staged a demonstration outside Haryana Bhawan on Thursday, seeking the government's intervention for reversing the suspension and dismissal of workers by MSI.
The long awaited product is likely to be launched early next year.
Currency fluctuation has been affecting margins.
Maruti cannot make a Rs 1 lakh car and the company engineers say it cannot be done, Maruti Suzuki India managing director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is understood to be planning to ramp up its output by about 10 per cent to produce over 1,10,000 units every month from October.
Global energy giant Shell has acquired Mumbai-based Raj Petro Specialities to deepen its foothold in the world's third biggest lubricants market in the world, a top company official said. Shell, which has already invested over $5 billion in India across the energy value chain -- from LNG import terminals and fuel stations to renewable energy and technology centres -- has acquired 100 per cent equity interest in Raj Petro Specialities Pvt Ltd from Germany's Brenntag Group.
From the 30 Sensex companies, Zomato, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki India, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement and Infosys were among the laggards. In contrast, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, NTPC, Tata Consultancy Services, PowerGrid, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Sun Pharmaceuticals were the gainers.
Maruti Suzuki reported a 41.56 per cent jump in sales for August at 84,808 units. Hyundai Motor India reported a 12.92 per cent jump in domestic car sales at 24,401 units.
Japanese small car major Suzuki on Thursday launched its fifth global model small car, which will be launched in India under "A-Star" brand by mid-November this year.
Suzuki Motor Corporation has already said India would be the global small car development hub outside Japan for other markets, he added. MSI's R&D centre is being developed to be at par with SMC's facility in Japan. It will also have crash test centre.
Leading car manufacturer Maruti Udyog Ltd has bought Suzuki Motor Corporation's 30 per cent stake in the joint venture Maruti Suzuki Automobile India Ltd for Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million), taking its total stake in MSAIL to 100 per cent.
While compact SUV Vitara Brezza will cost Rs 20K more, Baleno will be constlier by Rs 10K
MSI will inspect certain WagonR models for a possible issue of fuel hose fouling with metal clamp.
According to the company, the talks that began on Wednesday morning at 11 am continued through the night and were still going on Thursday morning.
While MSI's price cuts range between Rs 8,502 and Rs 30,984 across its models, Hyundai has slashed prices by between Rs 10,000 and Rs 135,300.
The company's overseas sales growth was driven mainly by the export of its flagship model A-Star, which clocked sales of over one lakh units till December 2010, within 11 months of launch.
Car exports from India have reached the levels of around six lakh units annually.
Country's largest car maker draws nearly half of its sales from exchange programmes, rural focus.
Nissan Motor Company, Japan's third-largest auto maker, has decided to cut its small car sourcing target from India's biggest car company Maruti Suzuki by 80 per cent in view of the severe downturn in Europe's automobile market.
The average discounts on the models, especially petrol, were all-time high during the July-September quarter.
"Out of the total exports, A-Star alone will comprise one lakh units while the rest would be other models," Maruti Suzuki India executive officer (marketing) Mayank Pareek told reporters in New Delhi. The company currently has an inventory level of three weeks and is producing more to meet the upcoming festive demands. On the company's diesel-engine plans, Pareek said it will expand the production capacity to 300,000 units per annum by 2010-11 from the existing 2,40,000 units
Company had posted a net profit of Rs. 656.55 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2009-10 fiscal.
According to industry sources, the company has stopped its production of the current SX4 model in order to change engine, which would be in compliant with the Bharat Stage-IV norms.
The new model, which is based on the company's fifth generation HEARTECT platform, comes with a BS-VI compliant one-litre petrol engine with a claimed fuel efficiency of 21.7 km per litre.
The country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday launched a diesel variant of its SX4 sedan at an introductory price of Rs 7.74-8.62 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Hyundai Motor India and Honda Cars India on Wednesday joined the list of automakers planning to hike prices of vehicles from April, second time this year, to partially offset the impact of rising input costs and higher operational expenses. In a statement Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) said it will hike prices of its vehicles by up to 3 per cent effective in April 2025.
For the entire 2012-13 financial year, however, the company's total sales increased by 3.33 per cent to 11,71,434 units from 11,33,695 units in 2011-12, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement.
The previous highest sales figure stood at 1,08,006 units in September 2010. It was also for the fifth time in this fiscal that the company's monthly sales crossed the one lakh mark.
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