Maruti Suzuki Cuts Production In Oct For The Ninth Straight Month

Maruti Suzuki cut production by a fifth in the last month on sluggish demand in the domestic market. It was the ninth straight month of cut in production for the country's largest carmaker.

Production of mini cars Alto, S-Presso and old WagonR were cut by 39 percent to 20,985 units in October while compact cars (New WagonR, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno, DZire) saw a 13.6 percent reduction to 64,079 units.

Production of midsize sedan Ciaz fell by 45 percent to 1,922 units in the same period.

The company's produced 22,736 utility vehicles (S-Cross, Ertiga, XL6, Vitara Brezza) in the last month, when compared to 22,526 units a year-ago.

Maruti Suzuki's production of vans Omni and Eeco were down by 45 percent to 7,661 units last month and that of light commercial vehicle Super Carry dropped 10 percent to 1,954 units.

The automaker's wholesale domestic passenger vehicle dispatches in October were 2.3 percent higher at 139,121 units but its cumulative volumes in the first seven months have slipped 23 percent to 802,643 units.

Earlier this week, on dismal volume performance, its parent Suzuki Motor Corporation, cut growth projections for the Indian subsidiary by a significant 20 percent.

The decline in guidance is likely to significantly reduce its production from the earlier target of attaining 2 million units by 2020.