The auto industry’s wholesale number for February stood at 3,35,269 units recording a growth of 10.6 percent over the previous year’s 3,03,213 units marking it as the highest-ever February wholesales for the passenger vehicle industry.
In a briefing session with Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki India, Express Drives addresses the total production and delivery backlog, the upcoming RDE norms and a possible price hike from Maruti Suzuki.
“The industry is sitting on a total of 7.6 lakh pending orders”, said Srivastava hinting at revived demand. “We haven’t faced any slowdown in bookings and inquiries. As of now, bookings for Jimny stand at 21,000 units whereas for Fronx are at 12,000. That’s a great number as the prices aren’t even out yet,” he said.
99 percent of Maruti Suzuki’s portfolio is RDE compliant
Maruti Suzuki has updated almost its entire portfolio in compliance with the upcoming RDE regulations from April 1, 2023. The only vehicle waiting for an update is the Celerio and the hatchback will be updated to see light at the end of the tunnel. According to Srivastava, Maruti Suzuki has the top 6 selling cars for February 2023 starting with Baleno, Swift and Alto at third place. It is to be noted that in January 2023, Tata Nexon held the 5th position while Creta bagged the 6th spot; the top 5 being Maruti Suzuki.
Discount for unsold inventory or upcoming price hike?
“The changes incorporated to meet the upcoming norms will put pressure on cost. Although the impact isn’t quite as large for us as it is for diesel car makers, we are currently monitoring the cost structure,” said Shashank Srivastava.
As dealers are also gearing to sell their remaining BS4 and BS6 phase 1 stock, Maruti Suzuki has highlighted that their February car discounts were higher than in other months and might be still applicable in certain parts of the country for specific models.
