Maruti Suzuki slashes production by 16% in June, posts fifth cut in a row

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has cut vehicle production for the fifth consecutive month in June, according to a regulatory filing.

The auto major said it slashed total vehicle production, including Super Carry LCV, by 15.6 per cent last month to 1,11,917 units as compared to 1,32,616 units in the year-ago month.

Total passenger vehicle production stood at 1,09,641 units last month, down 16.34 per cent from 1,31,068 units in June 2018.

The auto major cut production of mini segment vehicles, including models like Alto, by 48.2 per cent to 15,087 units last month as against 29,131 units in the year-ago period.

Similarly, it slashed production of compact segment cars like WagonR, Swift and Dzire by 1.46 per cent to 66,436 units in June from 67,426 units earlier.

Production of utility vehicles witnessed a decline of 5.26 per cent to 17,074 units, as against 18,023 units in June last year.

The company said production of vans declined by 27.87 per cent to 8,501 units last month compared to 11,787 units in June 2018.

The car market leader had cut total production by over 18 per cent in May. Similarly, it had slashed production by around 10 per cent across its factories in April.

In March, the company had reported a production cut of 20.9 per cent, while in February the company had reduced production by over 8 per cent to 1,48,959 units from 1,62,524 units produced in the year-ago month.

Auto manufacturers have been facing muted sales for quite some time now. The slowdown has forced companies to adjust their production schedules to market demand.

Automakers like Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tata Motors have also announced adjusting production to tapering market demand to cut down inventories.

In May, overall passenger vehicle wholesales in India witnessed the steepest decline in nearly 18 years, dropping by over 20 per cent amid continued weakness in retail offtake.

The decline in May was the worst since September 2001, when sales had dropped by 21.91 per cent.

In fact, barring October last year, when sales went up 1.55 per cent, passenger vehicle offtake has been in the negative zone in 10 of the last 11 months.

Passenger vehicle retail sales were, however, comparatively better in May. As per automobile dealers' body FADA, retail sales in May dipped 1 per cent to 2,51,049 units as compared to the same period last year.

Both SIAM and FADA are yet to release detailed sales data for June.