Auto Slowdown: Maruti Suzuki and Bosch Cut Production

The company produced a total of 1,33,625 units in July, compared with 1,78,533 units in the year-ago month

New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India cut its production in July by 25.15%, making it the sixth month in a row that the country’s largest car maker reduced its output, according to a regulatory filing.

The company produced a total of 1,33,625 units in July, compared with 1,78,533 units in the year-ago month, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a BSE filing.

Passenger vehicles’ production last month stood at 1,30,541 units as against 1,75,456 units in July 2018, a decline of 25.6%, it added.

Production of mini and compact segment cars, including Alto, New WagonR, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno, Dzire, stood at 95,733 units as against 1,27,715 units in July last year, down 25%.

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Utility vehicles such as Gypsy, Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and S-Cross saw reduced production at 19,464 units as against 24,718 units in the year-ago month, down 21.26%.

Mid-sized sedan Ciaz saw its production reduced to 3,497 units in July from 7,115 units in the same month last year.

Light commercial vehicle Super Carry production was also trimmed to 2,724 units last month from 3,077 units in July 2018, the filing said.

According to Economic Times, Bosch, the German auto components company, slowed down production as well, with it’s stock falling 3.89% to close at Rs 13,935 per share on the NSE. The Indian arm of Bosch shut four of its plants for 12 days in the past two weeks, and has now announced more days of no production still.

On Wednesday, the company said that Bosch’s Gangaikondan plant in Tamil Nadu will halt manufacturing for five days in August and the plant in Nashik, Maharashtra will halt production for eight days “to adjust production to meet the demand for products and to avoid unnecessary build-up of inventory.”

This has been one of the worst slowdowns in productions in almost 25 years in the Indian automobile industry, says Economic Times. As a result of sales falling almost every month this year, auto manufacturers collectively agreed on a production cut of 11% in the June quarter over the year-ago period according to a report by India Ratings and Research.

The report also said that more production cuts should be expected.