Maruti Expects Sales Surge, Prepares to Meet Customer Demand

10 Jul 2023 , 10:47 AM

According to news reports, Maruti Suzuki anticipates that its market will expand more quickly due to robust demand for its vehicles, especially the SUV lineup.

The car manufacturer projects that the global market for passenger vehicles will expand by 5-7% this fiscal year.

Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) at Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), who spoke to ET, predicted that the PV sector would conclude the current fiscal year with 40.5–41.3 lakh units.

‘We haven’t changed the estimates we set at the start of the year. We predicted that the industry’s growth would be in the range of 5-7%,’ Srivastava said, asserting that their growth should outpace that of the sector.

He pointed out that during the first quarter, the company expanded by 12.2% while the industry expanded by approximately 9.5%.

When asked about the company’s holiday preparations, he told ET that with the chip scarcity subsiding, the automaker hopes to increase production and significantly reduce waiting times for models including the Ertiga, Brezza, and XL6.

Currently, approximately 3.62 lakh units are backlogged in the company’s unfilled orders.

‘We expect the semiconductor shortage to be relatively less in the second quarter, which will allow us to produce these models and hopefully shorten the waiting period for customers,’ Srivastava said.

He emphasized the significance of this development as, by 2030, roughly 15% of vehicles are expected to be electric, 25% hybrid, and 60% using alternative fuels like CNG, biogas, ethanol, and blended gasoline.

Srivastava added that the company currently offers only two hybrid models but anticipates an increase in the future.

While he couldn’t predict the exact number of models that will emerge, Srivastava noted that the percentages suggest an overall rise in the number of models.

He also mentioned that CNG and hybrid vehicle sales this year are expected to equal the company’s all-time high for diesel vehicle sales, which was 4.8 lakh units in 2017-18.

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