Maruti halts production of petrol cars due to low demand

Many auto companies in India have started offering discounts on their petrol head cars due to rising fuel cost, but the Indian auto giant Maruti Suzuki has taken the bold step of temporarily shutting down the assembly line of some its petrol models like Wagon-R, A-Star, Omni, Estilo and the best seller the Alto. 

The strep is taken considering the rising fuel cost, low demand for petrol cars and apparently to clear the piling petrol car inventory at the dealers stockyard. 

"Petrol car sales are very low in these days as the market sentiment is down ... We do not believe in creating excess stock. So, we adjust our production accordingly," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek said. "Normally we have inventories for three weeks. However for petrol models it is now around four and a half weeks," Pareek further added.

Last month Maruti’s sales figure saw a decline of 4.99 percent in total sales, mainly due to reduction in demand of petrol-driven small cars. Company’s mini-segment cars including the M800, A-Star, Alto and Wagon-R saw a sales decline by 29.03 per cent to 29,895 units in May from 42,125 units during the same period last year.

Currently Maruti is offering huge discount of Rs 30,000 on its largest selling car in India - the Alto. The A-Star, Wagon-R and Estilo have discount offers ranging between Rs 18,000-22,000. However, Maruti is expecting a 10 percent growth this fiscal, primarily driven by diesel cars.