When the first Maruti 800 was introduced in 1983, it was made of almost entirely imported components; in a few years it had been heavily indigenised - although, for years, the older "original" models commanded a premium on the thriving second-hand market.
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.
The first diesel car from Maruti Suzuki, Celerio diesel is pitted against Hyundai Grand i10, Ford Figo and Chevrolet Beat.
In the next 2-3 years the company will pump in Rs 4,000 cr in product development, R&D and marketing infrastructure.
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.
"It has a special place in our product strategy. Millions of Indians own compact cars. With growing incomes and better lifestyle, many of them want to upgrade to a sedan. But on Wednesday, they are not able to find an entry level sedan that offers style, features and performance. The DZire offers all this, and at an attractive price," Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director S Nakanishi said.
MD Shinzo Nakanishi also rules out entering ultra low-cost car segment.
Appellate tribunal NCLAT on Monday stayed the Rs 200 crore penalty imposed by the Competition Commission on Maruti Suzuki but directed the car maker to deposit 10 per cent of the total amount within three weeks. The amount has to be deposited with the Registrar of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). A three-member NCLAT bench stayed the demand notice issued on October 27 to the car maker, subject to the condition of depositing 10 per cent of the penalty amount.
Maruti Suzuki's next offering, the A-Star, a premium hatchback car, will be the first vehicle to be exported from the company's car terminal at Mundra Port, which is expected to be operational by December 2008. A joint venture between Maruti Suzuki and Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ), the terminal is being set up with an investment of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion).
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.
Maruti's transformation -- if not descent -- to the 'low road' of labour practices stems from growing competitive pressures in the marketplace since the late 1990s.
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.
Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday became the first Indian automobile company to produce one million cars in a year.
A drop in value of the rupee against the dollar and other major currencies may hurt Maruti Suzuki, the country's biggest producer of passenger cars, as it is slated to import as much as Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) of auto parts in this financial year.
Currency fluctuation has been affecting margins.
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.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday announced raising of excise duty to 12 per cent from 10 per cent at present.
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.
From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Asian Paints were among the laggards. Reliance Industries fell the most by 2.38 per cent to close at Rs 1,171.10 apiece.
Leading automakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors on Friday reported robust sales for February as demand for sports utility vehicles continued to remain strong. Mahindra & Mahindra, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Honda Cars also witnessed higher vehicle dispatches to dealers last month. February turned out to be the third-best month for sales for the industry ever.
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.
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.
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.
With induction of these people, the company's workforce will expand by about 27 per cent to nearly 11,000 employees.
India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki plans to ride on the back of new launches in the future to retain its numero uno position in the market place and beat back competition from its peers.
In addition to the showroom discounts that ranged from Rs 12,000 on Maruti 800, Rs 11,000 on Alto and Rs 18,000 on Wagon R and Estillo, it offered an additional discount of about Rs 4,000 to such employees. This year, it has stopped financing the scheme. Instead, it has tied up with Axis Bank that offers financing at 10.75 per cent with repayment periods of three to five years (market rates are currently at 14 -15 per cent).
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).
India's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd on Monday announced a fresh investment of US $1.8 billion to achieve its target of producing one million cars by 2010-11. The bulk of Maruti's fresh investment will be in a research and development facility, for which the company has applied to the Haryana government for 500 acres of land near Manesar.
In a statement issued on Friday, India's largest car manufacturer said that 'due to sharp increase in the input costs and also introduction of BS-IV norms in some models, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has decided to pass on part of this cost impact to customers.'
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 company has tied up with scrap dealers across India to dispose of old cars exchanged for new cars and is welcoming customers to come with old cars of any make for exchange. The company has started giving offers to customers worth up to Rs 40,000 while purchasing a new car through exchange, while inviting bids from scrap dealers at the same time for the old cars.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wooed Indian auto giant Maruti Suzuki to set up a car project in Gujarat and said that the state government would provide all the facilities to it.
Maruti Suzuki India has hiked prices of its vehicles across all models, except the entry level sedan DZire, by up to 3.4 per cent.
Japanese manufacturer Suzuki displayed two cars at the Frankfurt Motor Show that have a huge potential for launch in India.
From the Sensex stocks, Power Grid, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Nestle India, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Maruti Suzuki India and Reliance Industries were the major gainers. In contrast, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Motors were the laggards.
The car will come with a petrol and a diesel engine option.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 465.36 crore (Rs 4.65 billion) for the same quarter last fiscal, Maruti Suzuki India said.
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), which witnessed labour unrest at its Manesar facility, is set to complete the process of regularisation of contract workers at the unit by November-end.
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