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Maruti Cuts Vehicle Production By Over 8% In February

The country’s largest car maker cut production by over 8 percent in February on account of subdued demand.



A Maruti - Suzuki car is displayed at a dealership in New Delhi. (Photographer: Sondeep Shankar/Bloomberg News)
A Maruti - Suzuki car is displayed at a dealership in New Delhi. (Photographer: Sondeep Shankar/Bloomberg News)

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. cut production by over 8 percent in February due to subdued demand.

The auto major produced a total of 1.49 lakh units, including Super Carry LCV, across its factories last month, down 8.3 percent from 1.62 lakh units produced in the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The production of passenger vehicles, including Alto, Swift, Dzire and Vitara Brezza, declined by 8.4 percent to 1.48 lakh units as compared with 1.61 units in February 2018.

However, the production of vans—Eeco and Omni—was up by 22.1 percent to 16,898 units last month as compared with 13,827 units in February 2018. Production of Super Carry LCV was up by just one unit last month.

When contacted, MSI declined to comment on the reasons for taking this production cut.

In January, MSI had reported a total production of 1.83 lakh units, up 15.6 percent from 1.58 lakh units produced in January 2018. Production of passenger vehicles rose 14.3 percent to 1.78 lakh units in January as compared with 1.56 lakh units in the year-ago period.

In February, MSI had reported a dip of 0.9 percent in domestic sales at 1.39 lakh units as compared with 1. 38 lakh units in the year ago period.

In January, however, it had reported an increase of 1.1 percent in its domestic sales at 1.42 lakh units as compared with 1.40 lakh units in January 2018.

Hit by lower offtake by end customers, passenger vehicles retail sales declined by 8.25 percent to 2.15 lakh units in February as compared with the same period last year, automobile dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations said last week.

The company's installed manufacturing capacity from its two plants in Gurgaon and Manesar stands at 15.5 lakh units per annum. Besides, Suzuki-owned Hansalpur (Gujarat) plant also has an installed capacity of 2.5 lakh units from the first line.

The second production line has been commissioned at the plant, but is yet to reach its peak capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum. The third production line at the Gujarat plant would give an additional capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum to the company.

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