Chairman of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corporation Osamu Suzuki on Monday visited the violence-hit Manesar plant of the company's Indian arm Maruti Suzuki.
Leading passenger vehicle maker Maruti Suzuki on Saturday reported marginal growth while Hyundai and Tata Motors posted a decline in their sales in February as a slowdown in the market continued with demand remaining muted. On the other hand, Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar Motor posted double-digit growth riding on their SUV and MPV models.
The average car price in India has increased rapidly in the last 5-6 years due to new emission regulations and demand for more spacious and comfortable cars loaded with advanced technology.
Car purchases in India are largely limited to the top 12 per cent of households with an annual income exceeding Rs 12 lakh, while even small cars have become unaffordable for the remaining 88 per cent, said R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), on Friday. "How can you get high car sales growth if 88 per cent of the country are below the levels of income where they cannot afford these cars costing Rs 10 lakhs and above?
Suzuki chief Osamu Suzuki, on a visit to India, said that the companies would not only expand operations and production in the domestic market but gradually use it as a base for exports to other regions, primarily Europe.
Maruti Suzuki's royalty payments to its Japanese parent Suzuki are "extortive" and the amount paid has increased over six times per car sold over the past 15 years, according to a report.
Maruti Suzuki has outperformed Suzuki Motor Corp in terms of profitability, with the Japanese parent today posting a consolidated net profit of 28.91 billion yen (about Rs 1,395 crore) for the fiscal 2009-10, almost half of that of the India's largest carmaker.
Among Sensex shares, Sun Pharmaceutical, Tata Steel, Trent, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports, Titan, BEL, and Larsen & Toubro were the major laggards. However, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki India, ITC, Tata Consultancy Services and UltraTech Cement were the gainers.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) will issue equity shares on a preferential basis to parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) to acquire 100 per cent stake in the latter's Gujarat plant. This deal is expected to increase the share base of MSIL by about 4 per cent. And consequently, it will raise SMC's shareholding in Maruti by around 1.8 percentage point. "Whether it is in terms of PAT (profit after tax) or earnings per share (EPS) or dividend per share (DPS) of MSIL, the share-swap option will give shareholders a better deal than any other option such as cash payment," MSIL chairman RC Bhargava told reporters during a press conference.
The proposal was cleared by FIPB at its meeting on March 30, 2005.\n\n
Among the Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra jumped the most by 5.96 per cent. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Trent, ITC and HDFC Bank were also among the gainers. However, Maruti Suzuki India, Bharat Electronics, HCL Tech, NTPC, Power Grid, Infosys and Reliance Industries were among the laggards.
'The customer is fast changing, and she demands newer experiences that wealth can buy.'
Maruti's decision to give the Gujarat plant to Suzuki may not be the proverbial win-win amid concerns about costly imports and pricing.
Maruti Suzuki says it has sold at least one car in 418,000 villages.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's biggest carmaker, is set to play a larger role in the operations of parent Suzuki Motor and will contribute a third of the Japanese company's global sales by 2009-10, the Indian firm's managing director Shinzo Nakanishi said on Thursday.
Auto majors Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai reported muted sales performance in October as the companies curtailed dispatches to dealers in order to cut inventory build up.
Maruti Udyog Ltd on Thursday announced that it would buyout Suzuki in Maruti Suzuki Automobile India Ltd and merge the subsidiary into itself.
Mahindra & Mahindra plans to manage rare earth magnet supplies through alternative sourcing channels for the next nine months and will pursue 'engineering efforts' to address the raw material shortage situation amid growing product portfolio, according to a senior company executive. The imposition of export restrictions by China on key rare earth magnets has resulted in supply chain bottlenecks, impacting the user industries, including the auto and electronics sectors.
Long standing number two passenger vehicle maker in India, Hyundai Motor India, has slipped to fourth position in the domestic market in terms of retail sales last month behind Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors, as per the latest data shared by dealer's body FADA. Hyundai Motor India clocked retail sales of 38,156 units last month, a dip of 20 per cent as compared with 47,540 units in February last year.
Between January and August 2025, over 65,000 units of the Bolero were sold, making it the third-highest contributor to Mahindra's overall SUV sales. Bolero annually achieves sales of over 1 lakh units.
Japan is expected to increase its investment target in India from the earlier 5 trillion yen ($34 billion) to almost 10 trillion yen.
Maruti's hike in royalty to its parent Suzuki, at a time when competition is speeding up, makes it a decidedly uncool stock.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) will keep consolidating its existing product line-up, including hatchbacks, while bolstering presence in the fast growing SUV segment to power its way back to 50 per cent market share in the domestic passenger vehicle market, as per a senior company official. The country's largest carmaker, which has seen its market share drop to 43.38 per cent in FY22 from 47.7 per cent in FY21, aims to bring in multiple SUV products with focus on new technologies like hybrid powertrains in order to enhance fuel efficiency, making them comparable or better than diesel-powered models that are currently being sold in the market, especially by its Korean rivals. With no intention of making a comeback in the diesel segment, MSI is also focusing on increasing its play in the CNG segment to bring in additional volumes.
However, the company has not provided a timeline for the launch of the small electric car.
Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai and MG Motors are gearing up to introduce EVs in India.
The move offers flexibility in compliance but also places penalties squarely on the designated manager of such a pool.
Indian arm has cash reserves of Rs 7,000 crore, which might come in handy to set up plants around the world.
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.
India may see its busiest EV festive season in 2025 with SUVs, luxury cars and scooters set to launch, but rare-earth supply bottlenecks risk delaying rollouts.
Move could be aimed at integrating operations with Indian subsidiary.
As if unsatisfied by the success story of Maruti, the new chief of the Indian arm of Japanese auto giant Suzuki Motor Co's on Friday claimed it will overtake the parent company in the next two years.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday said its new manufacturing facility in Haryana, the company's third in the state, would reach peak production capacity of 10 lakh units per annum in the next eight years entailing a total investment of Rs 18,000 crore. The new facility, which would come at a 800-acre site at IMT Kharkhoda in Sonipat district, will entail total investment of Rs 11,000 crore in the first phase with a production capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum. The first set of vehicles are expected to roll out from the facility in 2025.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Sun Pharma, ITC, Nestle and Tata Motors were the other big gainers. Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were among the laggards.
Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday said it is recalling 9,125 units of its models Ciaz, Brezza, Ertiga, XL6 and Grand Vitara to fix possible defects in a part of the front row seat belts. The affected vehicles were manufactured between November 2-28, 2022, Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing.
Suzuki Motor Corporation's Indian subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), is going to play an increasingly important role in designing and developing global vehicles for the Japanese auto company in the coming years.
'Some buyers get carried away by festival offers and purchase higher variants or larger vehicles than they truly need, which impacts running cost and long-term affordability.'
Osamu Suzuki, chairman, Suzuki Motor Corporation, is likely to meet Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to finalise plans to set up a manufacturing plant for Maruti Suzuki India.
The proposed reforms in goods and services tax (GST) announced by the government last week, coupled with the eighth pay commission dole-out, is likely to push consumption-driven stocks - such as air conditioners (ACs), select automobiles, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail, and counters of quick-service restaurants (QSRs) - into higher orbit over the next few months, believe analysts.
Automakers Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and Audi India on Monday announced plans to hike prices of their passenger vehicles in January 2024 citing reasons, including cost pressure driven by overall inflation and increased commodity rates. Besides, Tata Motors and Mercedes-Benz India are mulling increasing the prices of their models from January. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India, which sells a range of vehicles from entry-level small car Alto to multi-utility vehicle Invicto, priced between Rs 3.54 lakh and Rs 28.42 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), on Monday said the price hike would vary from model to model.
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