This should come as a surprise to many. A few days after parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) pledged manifold export growth to touch the four-lakh car figure from India by 2010, Maruti Udyog said on Wednesday its export growth for the current fiscal at least is expected to remain flat.
Last fiscal, the domestic market leader exported just over six per cent of its total production at 34,781 vehicles. The carmaker does not expect much change in this number in 2006-07.
Says Mayak Pareek, chief general manager (marketing) “we have stopped exporting Alto and some other cars to Europe recently and this is why export numbers are not looking up this fiscal. The European market will be serviced by Suzuki’s plant in Hungary.”
He said Maruti was keen to fulfill its domestic commitments on a priority basis. With demand far outstripping supply in the domestic market, export growth is obviously suffering.
Take a look at the numbers. In July this year, exports of MUL were down 58% to 1,755 units (4,200 units). The decline continued in August when the numbers were down 25% at 3,596 vehicles (4,792).
Asked about reports that the company was considering a steep cut in prices of its bread and butter model M800 to compete with the Tata one lakh car two years down the line, Pareek said “how can we cut prices? Just look at the way input costs have been rising. The Tata car will compete with two-wheelers, not with M800.”
The company is expected to close the first six months of this fiscal with 18% sales growth. It closed the April-September period last year with sales of 2,62,406 units.
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