Maruti Suzuki Set To Raise Car Prices Amid Lacklustre Sales

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. plans to raise car prices even as India's largest carmaker strives to reclaim market share amid lacklustre sales of its entry-level models.

The price hikes come into effect from Jan. 1, 2023.

“The company continues to witness increased cost pressure driven by overall inflation and recent regulatory requirements,” Maruti Suzuki said in an exchange filing on Friday. “While the company makes the maximum effort to reduce cost and partially offset the increase, it has become imperative to pass on some of the impacts through a price increase.”

The move comes a day after the Alto maker reported its November sales.

Wholesales, or dispatches to dealerships, rose 14% year-on-year to 159,044 units last month, the company said in an exchange filing. While sales of its small cars—Alto and S-Presso—rose by just 778 units compared to last year, sales of its compact segment—comprising Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire—rose by 27.75% to 72,844 units.

Maruti Suzuki plans to shed its image as a small-car maker to reclaim 50% market in a country obsessed with sports utility vehicles. That would help it restore its operating profit margin to over 10%.

In November, Maruti Suzuki sold a total of 32,563 SUVs compared to 24,574 units a year ago. The company has three models in the segment: the Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga. The fourth, the Grand Vitara, was unveiled in October-end and has since garnered at least 56,000 bookings.

On Friday, shares of Maruti Suzuki fell 1.58% to Rs 8,815.10 apiece on the BSE even as the benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.66% lower at 62,868.50 points.