Maruti Suzuki aims to manufacture 20 lakh cars this fiscal

Maruti Suzuki India will increase its production and aims to manufacture 20 lakh vehicles in the ongoing fiscal with improving availability of semiconductors, according to company Chairman RC Bhargava. In his address to shareholders in the company's annual report for 2021-22, he said the upcoming mid-sized SUV Grand Vitara will play a key role in the challenge to touch 20 lakh units.

In 2021-22, total sales of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) increased by 13.4 percent to 16.52 lakh units. It had lost out on sales in the first quarter of the fiscal due to the pandemic and production being affected by the shortage of semiconductors, mainly for domestic models, Bhargava wrote. "The number of unmet bookings with the company at the end of the year rose to about 2.7 lakhs," he said, adding MSIL's market share declined to 43.4 per cent from nearly 50 percent as it lost some opportunity in the domestic market.

On the outlook for the current year, he said, "The vehicle production would increase as the situation regarding the availability of semiconductors has improved. Your company has also made further improvisations to enhance production. I am exhorting our team to reach 2 million units, though doing that remains a challenge."

Bhargava further said the launch of Grand Vitara, which will be manufactured by Toyota at its Karnataka factory, "is one of the reasons why we are expecting to increase production and challenge 2 million units".

The new SUV will also come with Toyota's strong hybrid technology, which "is the first-time cars with this technology would be manufactured in India", he claimed. Enhancement of Maruti Suzuki's SUV portfolio is necessary to offset the decline in sales of the non-premium hatchbacks.

"On the other hand, the SUV sector continued to grow. We did not have enough models in this segment to compete effectively, though the situation has now become much better with the launch of the remodelled Brezza and the global launch of Grand Vitara," Bhargava said.