Maruti Suzuki reports HIGHEST-EVER sales in Q2, Grand Vitara and 2022 Brezza lead growth

The largest passenger car manufacturer in India, Maruti Suzuki, achieved its best-ever sales this quarter. It should be noted that the Indian automaker sold 5,17,395 vehicles during this quarter. The company reported that the previous quarter was characterised by a severe scarcity of electronic components as a result of which it was only able to sell a total of 3,79,541 units, of which 320,133 units were sold domestically and 59,408 units were sold abroad. The figures show a recovery for the automaker. Additionally, the company's revenues during the holiday season were boosted by the sales of its newest models, the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and Brezza.

MSIL said, "Sales in the domestic market stood at 4,54,200 units. Exports were at 63,195 units. Shortage of electronic components impacted production by about 35,000 vehicles in this quarter," it added.

Also read: European Union bans sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 in member countries

In a virtual press conference, MSIL Chairman RC Bhargava said challenges such as COVID-19 impact and shortage of electronic components which had seriously affected growth in the past were not there during the second quarter, thereby resulting in good growth.

"On the festival season particularly, (it) has been excellent this year. After a long time, people have come out of the COVID shock and gone out and done shopping like they have never done in the last three years and I think that has brought up the market as a whole," he added.

MSIL said its pending customer orders stood at about 4.12 lakh units at the end of the second quarter, out of which about 1.3 lakh vehicle pre-bookings are for recently launched models, including Grand Vitara and the new Brezza.

The company has been making simultaneous efforts in securing electronic components availability, cost reduction, and improving realisation from the market to better its margins, it added.

In the first half of the ongoing fiscal, MSIL said it sold a total of 9,85,326 units as against 733,155 units in the year-ago period. Domestic sales were at 8,52,694 units as compared to 6,28,228 units in the same period a year ago. Exports in the first half of the fiscal were at 1,32,632 units as compared to 1,04,927 units in the year-ago period.

When asked if MSIL was still sticking to its target to sell 20 lakh units in the ongoing fiscal, Bhargava said, "No, we have not given up on our challenge of reaching 2 million (units). The major determinant of our ability to succeed is going to be the semiconductors ... At the moment we are finding that there is a constraint of semiconductors fundamentally from one company and that is affecting four models of ours."

He said MSIL has no certainty of how much will be supplied in the next five months. "If we get reasonably good supplies we should be able to reach the target. It's something we want to get to. We are trying to get it. We have the capability of getting to, but the factor which finally determines our success or failure is really not in our hands."