Maruti cuts vehicle production by 18 per cent in May

The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has cut vehicle production by over 18 per cent in May, according to a regulatory filing. It is the company’s fourth consecutive month of taking a production cut. The car market leader produced a total of 1,51,188 units in May, including Super Carry LCV, down 18.1 per cent from 1,84,612 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in the filing.

Barring Super Carry, the company reduced production of all other segments, including that of its big selling compact and mini cars last month. MSI slashed production of passenger vehicles, including Alto, Swift and Dzire, by 18.88 per cent to 1,48,095 as compared to 1,82,571 units in May 2018.

The company cut production of mini segment vehicles by 42.29 per cent to 23,874 units last month as against 41,373 units in the year-ago period. MSI also slashed production of compact segment cars by 9.54 per cent to 84,705 units in May from 93,641 units in corresponding month of last year. Production of utility vehicles also witnessed a decline of 3.21 per cent to 24,748 units, as against 25,571 units in May last year.

The company said production of vans declined by 34.99 per cent to 10,934 units last month compared to 16,819 units in May 2018. MSI had cut production by around 10 per cent across its factories in April. In March, the company had reported a production cut of 20.9 per cent across its factories. In February, the company had cut production by over 8 per cent to 1,48,959 units from 1,62,524 units produced in the year-ago month.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki Dzire has been in the Indian market for more than ten years now and so far the compact sedan has reached around 19 lakh customers. In the year 2018-19, Maruti Suzuki sold over 2.5 lakh units of the Dzire subcompact sedan averaging a monthly sales of 21,000 units. It leads the pack in the segment and boasts of a market share of 55 per cent, while the Amaze is number 2.

Maruti Suzuki Dzire is offered in a 1.2-litre petrol and a 1.3-litre diesel engine along with automated manual transmission or AMT offered on both models. The compact sedan is priced between Rs 5.70 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) and Rs 9.54 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). 

(With inputs from PTI)