Maruti Suzuki Ltd. India’s largest carmaker has reported a major dip in their sales in the month of April 2019. The manufacturer has reported sales of 1,43,245 units in April recording a 17.2% drop in sales when compared to the corresponding month last year. In April 2018, Maruti Suzuki sold 1,72,986 units. With 1,34,068 units, domestic sales declined by 18.7% against 1,64,978 units in April 2018.
Exports saw an increase of 14.6% with the manufacturer pushing 9,177 units in April 2019, against 8,008 units sold in the same period last year. The entry-level A segment reported 22,766 units in sales, the compact segment saw 72,146 units sold, while the mid-sized sedan segment featuring the Ciaz reported 2,789 units in sales. All three segments saw significant decline, however, the Utility segment which includes the Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and the Ertiga grew by 5.9 percent recoding 22,035 units as compared to 20,804 units from last year.
Maruti Suzuki Chairman, R. C. Bhargava stated that the industry as a whole has seen a significant decline in the last three quarters. Bhargava claims that the factors that have created uncertainty in the market are to blame. He noted that apart from the uncertainty of fuel prices, impact from the ongoing general election have been a significant factor for the slump. As this trend is seen prior to every general election, Bhargava reiterated that a solution to this needs to be found to curb this trend that occurs every five years.
Bhargava announced that the manufacturer will discontinue sales of their entire diesel line-up once the Bharat Stage 6 emission norms come into effect from April 1, 2020. He mentioned that the cost increase to upgrade the diesel engines to BS6 compliance will be uneconomical, which has led to the decision to discontinue the diesel altogether. All Maruti Suzuki products including the Utility vehicle segment will feature petrol powertrains only. However, should the market demand a diesel engine and it makes economic sense, the manufacturer could evaluate and revive their new 1.5-litre motor at a later stage, but confirmed that engines of capacity any lower than 1500cc will not be introduced. Due to the further uncertainty and unfavourable factors that the market is expecting for the rest of the financial year, the manufacturer has provided a range rather than an exact growth target. Maruti Suzuki is projecting a conservative production growth of 4% while an optimistic level of growth for 2019-2020 fiscal is predicted to be 8%.
