Concerned over sales growth coming mainly from two of its models - Dzire and Swift - country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India said unless its other products contribute equally the company could face problems in the long-term.
Leading carmakers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai on Thursday reported a dip in wholesales in July as companies reduced vehicle dispatches to dealers amid moderation in demand. Maruti Suzuki India said its total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 137,463 units in July against 152,126 units in the year-ago month, down 9.64 per cent.
The country's largest automobile maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday said it will hike prices of its cars in the second quarter of the current fiscal due to increase in the input costs. "Over the past year, the cost of the company's vehicles continue to be adversely impacted due to increase in various input costs. "Hence, it has become imperative for the company to pass on some impact of the above additional cost to customers through a price rise," Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing.
The name of the country's most popular car brand, Maruti Udyog Ltd, has been changed to 'Maruti Suzuki India Ltd' with effect from September 17.
Set to be unveiled at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, it is likely to be priced below Rs 400,000, and will come with air-conditioning and the option to choose from six colours.
Maruti Suzuki India will increase the prices of its vehicles 'substantially' from next month as it looks to offset the impact of rising input costs and make provisions to update the model range to conform to stricter emission norms which kick in from April 2023. In a regulatory filing on Friday, the country's largest carmaker said it continues to witness increased cost pressure driven by overall inflation and recent regulatory requirements. While the automaker makes maximum effort to reduce cost and partially offset the increase, it has become imperative to pass on some of the impact through a price increase, it added.
India's leading passenger vehicle manufacturers are significantly increasing investments and factory capacities, alongside planning major product launches for FY27, driven by strong confidence in sustained domestic demand growth despite global geopolitical tensions and supply chain risks.
Maruti Suzuki India will launch electric vehicles in the country only after 2025 as demand for such vehicles at the moment is less and it would like to sell around 10,000 units a month whenever it enters the electric mobility space, company chairman RC Bhargava said on Wednesday. Addressing a virtual conference on the company's second quarter earnings, he said under the current circumstances a lot of things in the EV ecosystem such as batteries, charging infrastructure and electric supply are done by other parties and therefore the costing is not in the hands of the company. Also with fuel prices going up, car market leader Maruti Suzuki India is intensifying its focus on more CNG offerings of its models.
Maruti Suzuki India's net profit surged 80.3 per cent to Rs 3,716.5 crore in the September quarter, driven by better sales, softening commodity prices, cost reduction efforts and higher non-operating income. The company had delivered a net profit of Rs 2,061.5 crore in the year-ago period, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement on Friday. Maruti said it is expecting the affordability of small cars in the domestic market to come back in the next 2-3 years in the face of rising income levels of people and a growing economy, among others.
Maruti Suzuki growing in double-digits; Suzuki's Japan Q1 top line rose only 1%.
In the domestic market, the car has been well accepted and currently the company has over 80,000 bookings for the model.
Maruti Suzuki sold more cars than ever before, earned more money, and saw many first-time buyers choosing small cars again.
The January-March quarter (Q4) results for 2024-25 (FY25) from the country's largest passenger vehicle (PV) maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), were a mixed bag, with revenues broadly in line but operating profit missing Street expectations. Given cost pressures, margins at the operating level were the lowest in the past seven quarters.
Tata Motors emerged as the biggest gainer in the passenger vehicles (PV) market in the second half of FY25, following a GST rate cut in September, achieving the highest growth among major OEMs and overtaking Mahindra & Mahindra in volumes.
Speaking after the meeting, Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava said the company will export 'Baleno' at the moment
In a filing to the BSE on Monday, Maruti Suzuki India said Suzuki Motor Corporation's stake in MSI has increased to 56.2 per cent from 54.2 per cent due to a share swap agreement with the domestic car market leader to acquire Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd.
MSI's exports increased by 54.34 per cent to 14,386 units in January, from 9,321 units in the year-ago period.
In May, MSI recorded domestic sales at 89,478 units, compared to 93,519 units in the year-ago period, registering a fall of 4.32 per cent.
The company's earlier highest for total and domestic sales stood at 1,21,952 units and 1,10,424 units respectively in March 2011.
Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest carmaker, reported a 36 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit, matching estimates, as favourable foreign exchange movement and cost reduction efforts offset falling sales.
The company also recorded its highest-ever annual sales in 2008-09 at 792,167 units as against 764,842 units in the previous fiscal, a rise of 3.57 per cent. The previous highest annual sales were in 2007-08. '2008-09 marked Maruti Suzuki's silver jubilee year in India. Over these 25 years, the company sold over 70 lakh cars in the domestic market. Additionally, over 5 lakh cars have been exported the world over,' Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement.
Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai reported single-digit sales growth in July with the sports utility segment continuing to drive overall demand in the market. Mahindra & Mahindra witnessed a 29 per cent increase in passenger vehicle dispatches while Tata Motors saw a marginal increase in the wholesales last month. Maruti Suzuki on Tuesday said its total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 152,126 units last month as compared to 142,850 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 6 per cent.
Passenger vehicle sales in India reached a record high of 4.7 million units in FY26, boosted by strong performances from major automakers and the implementation of GST 2.0.
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.
Associated Motorways, the sole agent for Suzuki-Maruti in Sri Lanka has placed orders for Zen cars from the Suzuki manufacturing plant in India following high demand. Despite the fact that prospects for car sales in Sri Lanka were not attractive as in other countries due to the country's economic condition, Maruti-Suzuki has found high demand for its latest Zen version.
The slowdown in growth is an industry-wide trend and companies are adjusting production to bring down the inventory levels at plants as well as dealerships.
Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said the production at its plant in Gurgaon has been impacted due to strike at Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd (SPIL), which supplies engines to MSI.
Companies with "gas guzzlers" are trying to set up the wrong narrative against small cars getting relaxation in the proposed corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE-III) norms on the basis of weight, Maruti Suzuki senior executive officer corporate affairs Rahul Bharti said on Monday, bringing to the fore deep division among carmakers regarding the upcoming rules.
Among the key concerns of the Street is market share losses in growth segments, led by higher competitive pressures.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India's July sales remained almost flat at 58,543 units as against 57,909 units in the same month last year.
Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday reported a 28 per cent rise in exports at 263,068 units in 2022, its highest ever overseas shipments. The company's previous highest exports was achieved in 2021 with 205,450 units. The highest exported models in 2022 were Dzire, Swift, S-Presso, Baleno and Brezza, the company said in a statement.
The scrip jumped as investors tracked weakness in the Japanese yen which would boost margins of Suzuki's Indian subsidiary by reducing the costs of imports.
Maruti takes a leap in terms of technology with features like ADAS, a 360-degree camera, ventilated seats, a powered tailgate, audio system with Dolby Atmos and much more.
Its production declined for the third consecutive year in financial year 2020-21 (FY21) to an 11-year low, while sales volume contracted for the second year to the lowest since FY15. The company manufactured around 1.08 million vehicles last fiscal, a decline from 1.17 million the previous year, and a steeper fall from its all-time high tally of 1.62 million reported in FY18.
"Export will not be better in this fiscal. It will remain more or less the same as last year or may be even worse. Situation in many global markets has not improved yet," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman R C Bhargava said on the sidelines of Hero Mindmine Summit.
Maruti Suzuki is planning a medium term invement of Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion), part of which will be utilised to build five vehicle stock yards in the country within one to two years, a senior executive said.
With the government not continuing with lower excise duty beyond December 31, major car makers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, GM India and Honda have raised vehicle prices by up to Rs 127,000.
MSI is also looking to produce one million vehicles by the end of this fiscal.
Ahead of this year's Budget, leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki on Monday asked the government not to roll back the entire stimulus package at once as it may hamper economic growth.