Car sales have gone up for Maruti Suzuki: Bhargava

Sales of automobiles have not come down but has actually gone up for the company, said a Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Chairman R.C Bhargava.

"Auto sales numbers have not declined. From April to December there has been a growth of 9-10 per cent. We sold 106,000 cars to dealers. The dealers sold 183,000 cars to customers. That reduced inventory to an all time low of 34,000," Bhargava told BTVi in an interview.

"On the outlook for we are confident to achieve the targets set beginning of the year," he added.

Queried about the expectations of the automobile industry in the ensuing union budget, Bhargava said there should be stability of policies and he would be happy if the budget leaves things as they are.

According to Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa,, the company would start production at its new plant in Gujarat in February and the first model to be rolled out of the plant would be its Baleno.

He said production ramp up would gradually happen and in six months the plant would reach full capacity on two shift basis.

--IANS

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