Maruti Suzuki: Maruti Suzuki has seen a significant increase in sales and profits along with it.
Lower raw material prices and a cost-cutting drive have also helped the finances of the automaker, which has popular SUVs such as the Grand Vitara and Fronx.
The company added that it expects SUVs to remain a dominant category in the Indian market and will continue to launch new vehicles in this segment to strengthen its market share. But sales of small cars, once their bread and butter, are unlikely to recover in the next two years, he said.
agency Optimistic Outlook: Bhargava
The company reported a net profit of ₹3,877.8 crore for the quarter ended March, up 47.8% from ₹2,623.6 crore a year ago.
The Delhi-headquartered Indian subsidiary of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Company attributed the strong growth in net profit to “higher sales volumes, favorable raw material prices, cost reduction efforts and higher non-operating profits”. Non-operating profit and loss recorded 3% of net sales in fiscal 2024.
Net sales for the three months ended March stood at ₹36,697.5 crore, up 19% year-on-year. Total costs increased 16.3% to $3435.51 billion, the company said.
“We are optimistic about our outlook for FY25,” Maruti Suzuki India Chairman RC Bhargava said. “The new government will soon be in power and will have a very good foundation to move forward with. We need to take some steps to get the economy moving forward at a much faster pace. The automotive industry is going to have a good year. ” The company plans to commission its first 250,000-unit assembly line at Kharkoda in Haryana by the end of this fiscal. After that, we plan to add one new production line every 12 months to meet expected growth in consumer demand.
Bhargava added that inflation is expected to be brought under control, which will trigger interest rate cuts in the second half of the year, boosting industry growth. He said double-digit revenue growth may not be realized given the company’s high base, but it will aim to get close to such increases in 2024-25.
A total of 584,031 units were sold from January to March, an increase of 13.4% compared to the same period last year. Domestic sales increased 12.2% compared to the same period last year, while exports surged 21.7% to 78,740 units.
In 2023-24, Maruti Suzuki India crossed the 2 million unit sales mark for the first time in its fiscal history. The company said it maintained its position as the top exporter for the third consecutive year, accounting for 41.8% of India’s total passenger vehicle shipments during the fiscal year.
We sold a total of 2,135,323 vehicles during the fiscal year, an 8.6% increase over the previous year. Domestic sales amounted to 1,852,256 units and exports amounted to 283,067 units. The company plans to export over 300,000 vehicles from India in FY25.
Maruti Suzuki India MD Hisashi Takeuchi said that while there are some challenges related to questions about policy continuity amid the general elections, the company “wants to maintain this momentum”.
Industry stakeholders are awaiting the poll results as the Narendra Modi government seeks a third term. Amid tensions in West Asia, the geopolitical environment also remains vulnerable.
Separately, Bhargava said Maruti Suzuki India will begin production of its first electric vehicle (EV) this fiscal and the first vehicles will be delivered to Europe. Significant sales of the company’s EVs in the local market are likely to occur only in the next fiscal year. He acknowledged that overall, all automakers need EVs, but said how the market for these vehicles develops will depend on customer acceptance, development of charging infrastructure and government policy.
“As manufacturers, despite our desire to achieve carbon neutrality targets as quickly as possible, we need to consider what our customers want in terms of technology or variations on that technology,” Bhargava said.
He said Suzuki Motors is also working on developing new technologies to apply the advantages of hybridization to compact cars, but it is not yet ready.
