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Informist, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026

 

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--Maruti Suzuki: Market demand is good, January bookings grew 25%
--CONTEXT: Comments by Maruti Suzuki's mgmt in virtual press conference
--Maruti Suzuki:Keeping close watch on input costs, to review price hike soon
--Maruti Suzuki:To start loyalty scheme for some models for current customers
--Maruti Suzuki: Facing production constraints amid high demand
--Maruti Suzuki: Focused more on SUV output in Jan to manage demand
--Maruti Suzuki: Have a waiting period of over 1 month for WagonR, Alto
--Maruti Suzuki: Will launch E Vitara campaign in India this month
--Maruti Suzuki: Production constraints will last a few more months
--Maruti Suzuki: Seeing an uptick in bookings across all segments since Oct
--Maruti Suzuki: Dzire was co's top selling model in January

 

MUMBAI – Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. continues to see a strong momentum in car bookings four months after the cut in Goods and Services Tax, which buoyed demand for passenger vehicles, its management told reporters in a virtual press conference Monday. "The market seems to be pretty good, the tailwinds are very much there," Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer marketing and sales, said, while adding that the company has pending bookings of 170,000 cars. However, it acknowledged that ongoing production constraints mean it had to produce more utility vehicles in January than mini and compact cars in order to manage waiting period across segments.

 

Maruti Suzuki sold 174,529 passenger vehicles in India in January, up 0.5% on year. This is the weakest growth registered by the company since October. In January, domestic passenger vehicle sales remained muted as robust uptick in wholesale sales of utility vehicles was offset by a near-double-digit on-year fall in sales of mini and compact segment cars combined.

 

"What we are trying to do being the flexible line we are trying to create to the whole segment of customers so that the waiting period doesn't go high for any of the segments," Banerjee said. "In the month of December, we had a growth of almost 49% in the Mini Plus Compact segment...So, this month, we are now trying to balance it out, and we are trying to give more focus for the utility vehicles," he added.

 

Banerjee stressed that the company is seeing bookings grow across segments and that supply constraints would last for a few more months. "We need to live with this production constraint for a few more months. Our new production lines are coming, I think we will be able to ease the production constraint in times to come," he added. The company, which currently has a physical stock of three days at its dealerships, registered bookings of around 275,000 in January, up 25% on year. 

 

Even though despatches of mini and compact cars fell in January, Banerjee said the company currently has pending bookings exceeding a month for Wagon R and Alto K-10.

 

PRICE HIKE?

Prices of commodities are inching up, especially that of precious metals, Maruti Suzuki said. "I think the increase (in input costs) is phenomenal, but we are keeping a very close watch because, due to the geopolitical scenario also, let the things stabilise," Banerjee said. The company will review a price hike for its cars going forward in the current scenario.

 

While many of its peers have announced price hikes or have given a timeline for when they would hike prices, the company's management had told investors during their December quarter earnings call that hiking prices currently would be unethical. "Some manufacturers may be doing it, but we think we should make a decision in favour of the consumer," the company's Executive Director for Corporate Affairs Rahul Bharti told analysts in a post-earnings conference call last week. "It is not common that the taxes are reduced by about 5% to 10% on items in a single stroke. Given the magnitude of this measure, it was expected to show some manifestation in terms of market growth," Bharti had said. 

However, the prices of commodities have increased rapidly in recent weeks, as concurred by other automakers. "Our supply chain team, production team, all are working to see how much we can absorb the cost increase due to commodities," Banerjee told reporters, and added that it would be forced to pass on costs to the customers depending on the extent to which it could absorb them.  

                                 

Even as domestic sales saw some hiccups in January, Maruti Suzuki's exports soared to a record high of 51,020 units, up 88% on year and 98% on month. "In December, the numbers were not so good (exports) because we missed one shipment actually," Banerjee said. The company exports its cars to countries including Japan, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Angola, Colombia, West Asia, among other countries. 

 

Maruti Suzuki's electric SUV E Vitara is finally set to hit Indian roads soon. "We are very soon going to launch it. Our vehicles are being already dispatched to our channel partners," Banerjee said. The car will be launched in India in February. "We are very soon going to start the test drive campaign and then we will be having the booking campaign and then (reveal) price also," he said.

 

The Dzire was Maruti Suzuki's top-selling model in January, followed by Swift, Ertiga, Baleno, and the newly launched mid-sized sports utility vehicle Victoris. Supplies of Victoris began in October. Its bookings have crossed 50,000 units. 

 

With the presence of 'premium' cars such as the Victoris and Grand Vitara in its portfolio, Maruti Suzuki is set to launch a customer loyalty program in order to "tale care" of existing customers of the company who are looking to upgrade their cars. "So if anyone who is having a Brezza or is having a Fronx or S-Cross, if he's upgrading to Grand Vitara or Victoris, we are going to give them a loyalty bonus. And that will be against the replacement of the vehicle, upgrading from the previous vehicle to the new vehicle," Banerjee said. However, he did not specify the amount of this loyalty bonus as the contours of the scheme are being worked out.

 

At 1142 IST, shares of the company traded 0.2% higher on the National Stock Exchange at INR 14,220.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Anand JC

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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