The leading auto maker in the Indian car market, Maruti Suzuki, is currently facing crunch in its sales volume consequent to the repetitive labour strikes and the intensifying competition in the passenger car segment. The pioneer in the small car segment is expecting a fall of 11 percent in its sales volume in the financial year ending in March 2012.
The auto market, particularly, the passenger car market, has witnessed diminishing sales percentage due to entry of new players in this segment and also because rising interest rates coupled with mounting fuel costs . Maruti Suzuki registered a sale of 888794 units during the period April’11 to January’12.
Mr. Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India, said, "In the April-December period this fiscal, we were down 16 per cent from the year-ago period. In January, it has narrowed to 14 per cent. For the whole fiscal, we think our sales will be down by 11 per cent from the last fiscal."
The company faced forced production cut due to the persistent labour strikes at its Manesar plant causing huge financial losses also. Commenting on this strikes Mr. Pareek added, "This ongoing fiscal has been a really trying year for us... We had lost about 106000 units, which is almost about a month's production, due to the strikes at the Manesar plant. "
However, the company’s sales volume increased by 5.2 percent in January and so far the sales percentage stands low at 14.5 percent in this fiscal year. The company aims to expand its sales by offsetting the rising intervention of its rivals such as Tata & Hyundai in its target market.
