The country’s largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday said that there is no sign of revival in sales this year because of various factors in the economy and a clear picture is expected to come only post the general elections.
“One of the primary reasons for decline in sales in the urban areas is because of the lesser jobs created this year, especially by the information technology and manufacturing companies. We only hope to see better times post the new Government is formed in 2014,” R.C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki, told reporters here.
The company said the first time car buyers in India have come down to 64 per cent this year compared with 70 per cent last year.
For the company, diesel car sales have come down to 54 per cent (of the overall cars sales) this year till November because of the continuous hike in diesel prices (50 paise every month), Mayank Pareek, Chief Operating Officer-Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki, said.
Sale of diesel cars stood at 58 per cent in the last financial year, he said.
However, the company said it is trying its best to get better sales this year through more penetration in the rural areas.
“We had covered 44,000 villages last year (financial year) and this year our plan is to reach up to one lakh villages. We have already crossed more than 60,000 villages till now,” Pareek added.
Shares of MSIL ended at Rs 1,790.85 on the BSE, down 0.73 per cent from the previous close.
ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in