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Maruti expects sales to decline 11% this fiscal
Last year’s labour problems at its Manesar plant is still haunting country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki as the company fears its sales to dip 11 per cent this fiscal.
“In the April-December period this fiscal, we were down 16 per cent from the year-ago period. In January, it has narrowed to 14 per cent. For the whole fiscal, we think our sales will be down by 11 per cent from the last fiscal,” said Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek. “This ongoing fiscal has been a really trying year for us... We had lost about 1,06,000 units, which is almost about a month’s production due to the strikes at the Manesar plant,” Pareek added.
Maruti had sold 13.2 lakh cars in the last fiscal and as of April-January period in the current fiscal the company has sold only 8,88,794 units. “We cannot match what we did in 12 months last fiscal in 11 months of this fiscal,” he reasoned. When asked about company’s plans to enhance its own diesel engine capacity by setting up a new plant, he said: “A final decision will be taken after the Budget.”
Actually, auto industry fears that the Government may impose additional tax on diesel cars. The company on Wednesday launched a shorter version of its sedan DZire at an introductory price between Rs 4.79 lakh and Rs 7.09 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The new model is available in both petrol and diesel options and it qualifies for the excise duty of 10 per cent enjoyed by small cars as it is shorter than 4 metres.
While the petrol version will be powered by a 1.2 litre engine, the diesel one will have a 1.3 litre engine. An automatic transmission variant will also be available in the petrol version.
Last year’s labour problems at its Manesar plant is still haunting country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki as the company fears its sales to dip 11 per cent this fiscal.
“In the April-December period this fiscal, we were down 16 per cent from the year-ago period. In January, it has narrowed to 14 per cent. For the whole fiscal, we think our sales will be down by 11 per cent from the last fiscal,” said Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek. “This ongoing fiscal has been a really trying year for us... We had lost about 1,06,000 units, which is almost about a month’s production due to the strikes at the Manesar plant,” Pareek added.
Maruti had sold 13.2 lakh cars in the last fiscal and as of April-January period in the current fiscal the company has sold only 8,88,794 units. “We cannot match what we did in 12 months last fiscal in 11 months of this fiscal,” he reasoned. When asked about company’s plans to enhance its own diesel engine capacity by setting up a new plant, he said: “A final decision will be taken after the Budget.”
Actually, auto industry fears that the Government may impose additional tax on diesel cars. The company on Wednesday launched a shorter version of its sedan DZire at an introductory price between Rs 4.79 lakh and Rs 7.09 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The new model is available in both petrol and diesel options and it qualifies for the excise duty of 10 per cent enjoyed by small cars as it is shorter than 4 metres.
While the petrol version will be powered by a 1.2 litre engine, the diesel one will have a 1.3 litre engine. An automatic transmission variant will also be available in the petrol version.
