TOKYO – India’s largest automaker, Maruti Suzuki, is leading the recovery of new sales in the South Asian country, which now has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the world.
The unit of the Japanese organization Suzuki Motor announced on September 1 that its passenger car sales had increased 21% for the year to 113,033 units. Among other categories, sales of mini-cars with a cylinder capacity of less than 1000 cm3 and a total life of less than or equivalent to 3. 6 meters, such as the Alto and S-Presso models, have almost doubled compared to last year.
Industry-wide sales knowledge for August has yet to be released, however, there are symptoms indicating that cars are expanding in the world’s fifth-largest auto market, based on 2019 knowledge, for the country to reopen. its economy in stages.
“Our expectations from August were pretty low, but strangely we saw sales,” a sales representative from a Maruti showroom in New Delhi told Nikkei Asian Review. “We expect the momentum to pick up and build as the holiday season approaches. “
In India, Diwali, the Hindu festival of light fixtures celebrated in October or November, is the busiest season for automakers. Signs of a rebound in car sales ahead of Diwali Festival are also good news for Maruti’s Japanese parent company Suzuki Motor, which relies on its Indian unit to generate part of its global unit sales and around 30%. . of your international operating profit.
The sales representative believes that the demand for new cars, which had bottomed out due to the novel coronavirus in the first component of the year, has recovered because many other people are beginning to return to the offices. “It is conceivable that many offices have withdrawn from paintings and other people still do not feel safe when traveling by taxi or subway,” he said.
But Maruti’s control remains cautious. Maruti president Kenichi Ayukawa, who appointed the new president of the Indian Automobile Manufacturers Society on September 4, told SIAM’s annual meeting that day that it was too early to be positive about sales. of automobiles in India.
India’s second-largest car brand, South Korea, Hyundai Motor, also posted a year-over-year sales increase last month, however some automakers have noted that sales continue to decline.
In India, around 336,500 passenger cars were sold in the 4 months to July, about a third of what they were a year ago, after factories and dealerships were forced to close. for more than two months after New Delhi ultimately imposed a nationwide lockdown. March to stop the virus.
Yet despite one of the world’s largest lockdowns, India overtook Brazil on Monday to become the country with the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States. the coronavirus. keep going.
With India’s gross domestic product contracting 23. 9% year-on-year between April and June, some observers expect the negative expansion to continue through the first quarter of 2021.
“We are facing one of the most difficult moments in [our] history. The industry wants your [government] support, ”Madoka said at the SIAM online meeting on Friday, which was also attended by ministers and government officials. Automakers are asking the government to cut taxes on products that consumers pay when making purchases.
But Maruti also faces problems. As in many other countries in the world, the two brands of the Hyundai Motor organization, Hyundai and Kia, are making immediate progress in the gaming application vehicle segment in India.
According to the Japanese company Fourin, the South Korean organization occupied 35% of the Indian SUV market in the first six months of this year, surpassing 22% of Maruti.
Maruti ruled almost part of the share of the Indian passenger car market during the same period, easily outperforming Hyundai and Kia’s combined share of 22. 8%. But the rise of rivals in the fast-growing SUV segment is a fear for the future.
As India’s leading automaker, Maruti will want to fend off the effects of the coronavirus and the festival of its South Korean rivals in the SUV market.
A challenge for Maruti will be creating exclusive products, while seeking to satisfy the varied desires of the country. As Koji Uchida, director of consulting firm Arthur D. Little Japan, commented, “Maruti Suzuki’s SUV designs have a tendency to be conservative [so they can appeal to all tastes]. “
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