By: Varun Singh
The passenger vehicle (PV) demand in the market “looks promising” but supply side issues owing to uncertainty over semiconductor situation will remain in 2022, Maruti Suzuki India MD & CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said on Wednesday.
“We cannot directly control semiconductor production because we are receiving components from component makers and they communicate with chip makers. Globally, not only the automobile industry but demand in other industries is also very strong,” Ayukawa told FE at the launch of the new Maruti Suzuki Baleno premium hatchback.
The new Baleno has been introduced in the price range of `6.35 lakh to `9.49 lakh (ex-showroom). It will rival the likes of Hyundai i20, Tata Altroz and Honda Jazz.
According to data provided by carmakers and industry body Siam, in the sub-4 metre car space, premium hatchbacks have been able to resist the SUV onslaught.From FY17 to now, the sales share of sub-4 metre premium hatchbacks has remained in the range of 22-24% of the overall PV sales.
The sales share of sub-4 metre SUVs has grown from 8.3% in FY17 to 21% now, while the sales share of sub-4 metre sedans has dropped from 12% in FY17 to 8% now.“If we leave out supply side issues, the demand in the market looks promising. Our customers, our patrons are awarding us with healthy bookings. Even today we have about 2.7 lakh bookings,” Ayukawa said.
“Last year we faced difficulties due to Covid-19. Some chip makers were not producing due to the impact of Covid-19 and had to close their factories. With Covid-19 situation improving, their production is going up. But their is a mismatch between the global demand of semiconductors and their production and supply. It takes time to recover as chip makers have to increase their capacity,” he added.However, the uncertainty will remain over the semiconductor situation this year also, according to Ayukawa.
According to Ayukawa, there are different types of semiconductors used in domestic and export versions of various Maruti Suzuki models. “This year we have increased the volume of exports. We could not get enough volume of chips for the domestic versions but we could get additional volume for export versions. That is why the volume of exports has increased,” he said.
Due to Covid-19, some global markets were down, but have now started recovering, Ayukawa said, adding that against the pent-up demand, we kept providing some volume to the markets.
