Maruti Suzuki cuts production by 10 per cent in April, here's why

The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday said it has slashed its vehicle production by around 10 per cent across its factories in April. It is the company’s third consecutive month of taking a production cut. It had also reduced production in February and March this year. The auto major produced a total of 1,47,669 units in April, including Super Carry LCV, down 9.6 per cent from 163,368 units in the year-ago month, it said in a regulatory filing.

The company cut production of passenger vehicles, including Alto, Swift and Dzire, by 10.3 per cent to 1,44,702 units as compared with 1,61,370 units in April 2018. Barring utility vehicles, the company reduced production of all other segments including that of its big selling compact and mini segments last month. The company cut production of the compact segment vehicles marginally to 83,411 units last month as compared with 83,709 units in the year-ago period.

MSI also slashed production of compact segment cars by 11.4 per cent to 1,06,184 units in April as compared with 1,19,894 units in corresponding month of last year. Production of utility vehicles witnessed an increase of 8.4 per cent to 24,516 units in April, as against 22,607 units in April last year. The company said production of vans declined by 25.8 per cent to 10,688 units last month as compared with 14,407 units in April 2018.

In March, MSI 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. MSI’s installed manufacturing capacity at its two plants in Gurgaon and Manesar stands at 15.5 lakh units per annum. Besides, the Suzuki-owned Hansalpur (Gujarat) plant also has an installed capacity of 2.5 lakh units from the first line. The second production line has been commissioned at the plant but is yet to reach its peak capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum.

Recently, the country’s largest car maker company reported 17.2 per cent decline in sales at 1,43,245 units in April. The company had sold 1,72,986 units in April last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

Domestic sales declined by 18.7 per cent at 1,34,068 units last month as against 1,64,978 units in the year-ago month, it added. Sales of mini cars comprising Alto were at 22,766 units as compared to 37,794 units in April last year, down 39.8 per cent.

Sales of compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, were down 13.9 per cent at 72,146 units as against 83,834 units in April last year, the company said. Mid-sized sedan Ciaz sold 2,789 units as compared to 5,116 units in the same month a year ago.

Utility vehicles, including Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga were up 5.9 per cent at 22,035 units as compared to 20,804 units in the year-ago month, MSI said. Exports in April were up by 14.6 per cent at 9,177 units as against 8,008 units in the corresponding month last year, the company said.

Apart from this, Maruti Suzuki has also decided to discontinue sale of diesel cars in the country from April next year, coinciding with the transition of the automobile industry to stricter BS VI emission norms.

Some of the company’s models like Vitara Brezza and S-Cross currently come with a diesel engine option only. Others like Swift, Baleno, Dzire, Ciaz and Ertiga also have petrol versions in addition to the diesel trims. MSI has also decided to pull the plug on the diesel version of its light commercial vehicle Super Carry from next year. It would be only available in petrol/CNG version going ahead.

(With inputs from PTI)