Manesar lockdown cost: Rs 2,600 cr/mth
The violence at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant in Haryana leading to its shutdown will hit the company hard with a monthly loss of around Rs 2,600 crore. This reality hit the company on Friday when it discussed the option of moving production of two of its best-selling models — the Swift and Swift Dzire — from Manesar to Gurgaon in the interim. The rationale behind this strategy was because not only are these two cars selling more than the company’s entry-levels models like the Alto, Wagon R and Zen Estilo, these also come in diesel variants for which demand is higher than for petrol models.
However, production department officials said that while the paint shop and assembly line at Gurgaon can handle these cars, they could not be welded there. In short, the strategy to shift production from Manesar to Gurgaon cannot work. Currently, around 41% of the company’s total monthly sales come from the Swift and Dzire. Of the company’s average monthly sales of around 80,000 units, these two models contribute around 33,000. Around 1,900 cars are manufactured per day at the Manesar plant, which also includes the hatchback A-Star and sedan SX4. If one takes an average price of around R5.6 lakh, then the loss due to the shutdown would be around R2,600 crore every month.
Meanwhile, even as the the plant remained shut on Friday, the company began despatching vehicles that had already been assembled with heavy police protection.
Maruti currently operates two production lines at the Manesar plant with
