Maruti wants to increase manufacturing flexibility to meet consumer demand: Prakash Bharti

 Maruti wants to increase manufacturing flexibility to meet consumer demand: Prakash Bharti

Recent SIAM data indicates that India's entry-level automobile wholesales have decreased from a high of 1.38 lakh cars in July–September 2018–19 to 35,000 units in the second quarter of current fiscal year.

The biggest Indian automobile exporter is still MSI. "Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and even the Middle East remain our main areas of interest. We will be practically everywhere, excluding the US and China," Bharti said.

Suzuki Maruti According to a senior corporate executive, India wants to increase the flexibility of its manufacturing processes so that it can build cars that suit the changing needs of the market. The biggest automaker in the nation wants to reduce the number of entry-level cars it produces while increasing the output of popular utility vehicles.

"Demand trends for utility vehicles and the compact car category continue to diverge. During a conference call with analysts, Maruti Suzuki India Executive Officer Corporate Relations Rahul Bharti said, "The company has been working on increasing its adaptability in operations to produce vehicles as per the constantly changing consumer demand."

He said the carmaker realized it was making "some slow-moving cars," which is one of the causes for the current decline in margins.

Additionally, we lacked the manufacturing capability to meet the demand for the automobiles. We probably wouldn't have as much of an issue if we had the flexibility of both internal manufacturing and semiconductor supply, Bharti said. "Hence, it’s an active move to increase the flexibility associated with manufacturing operations," he said.

Currently, MSI's factories in Gujarat and Haryana together have an established manufacturing capacity of over 23 lakh units annually.

According to Bharti, the project "comes at a small cost" since it uses a manufacturing model that is somewhat less than ideal. He elaborated on the decline in entry-level automobile sales, pointing out that the rising regulatory intensity in recent years has resulted in a disproportionate rise in acquisition costs.

"And customers in this group have not seen a surge in income. We are optimistic that the compact vehicle market will rebound and the income growth will eventually catch up," he said.

There has also been a decline in first-time buyers, according to Bharti, who said, "...nearly a ten per cent decrease in a percentage of first-time buyers from what was available for us." It is hence highly connected. We hope that at some point in the future, this demographic group will return when its income growth catches up with the rising costs and the level of regulation does not rise much more in the next years," he said.

Recent SIAM data indicates that India's entry-level automobile wholesales have decreased from a high of 1.38 lakh cars in July–September 2018–19 to 35,000 units in the second quarter of current fiscal year.

In response to a question about shipping abroad, Bharti said that the business intends to increase exports to 7.5 lakh to 8 lakh units annually by 2030–31, a three-fold increase in volume.

The biggest Indian automobile exporter is still MSI. "Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and even the Middle East remain our main areas of interest. We'll be almost everywhere, except the US and China," Bharti said.