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Automobile retail sales rose nearly 18 per cent year-on-year to over 27 lakh units in January, led by continued post-GST momentum, healthy rural cash flows on the back of harvest and weddings, and sustained demand visibility across freight, dealer's body FADA said on Tuesday. Overall retail sales last month grew to 27,22,558 units, up 17.61 per cent, as against 23,14,940 units in January 2025. Passenger vehicle retails stood at 5,13,475 units last month, a growth of 7 per cent, as against 4,78,915 units in the year-ago period. "The growth story is increasingly being written in non-metro India -- Rural PV grew by 14.43 per cent YoY, significantly ahead of Urban at 2.75 per cent YoY. "This reinforces the structural expansion of PV demand beyond the top cities, aided by a strong SUV/compact-SUV preference, revival of entry-level cars, product availability and continued schemes," FADA President C S Vigneshwar said in a statement. Two-wheeler retail sales grew 21 per cent year-on-year
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd on Friday said it has clocked a record annual production of 22.55 lakh units in calendar year 2025, a growth of 9.3 per cent over the previous year. This is the second consecutive year that the company has exceeded 20 lakh units in annual production. The production includes vehicles for domestic sales, exports and OEM supplies, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement. The company had produced 20.63 units in 2024. Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi attributed the record production to the efforts of the company's employees and the strong synergy that it shares with supplier partners. "A high degree of localisation has enabled us to achieve such scale while maintaining world-class quality, highlighting the strength and global competitiveness of India's automotive manufacturing ecosystem," he noted. Maruti Suzuki said its top five models by production volume during the year were Fronx, Baleno, Swift, Dzire and Ertiga.
Sri Lankan car importers, in the wake of the destruction caused by cyclone Ditwah, urged the government to waive the 3 per cent penalty on vehicles cleared after three months. Our buyers who placed orders for cars want refunds as the cyclone damage has left them in financial difficulties," Prasad Manage, the President of the Automobile Importers Association, told the media, adding that the buying power of the consumer has reduced. We are also victims of the Ditwah cyclone with customers asking for refunds of advance deposits made," Manage added. In Sri Lanka, imported cars are to be registered with the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) within three months of the Customs Declaration date. Hefty monthly penalties of 3 per cent of the Cost-Insurance-Freight (CIF) value are imposed in case of non-compliance with the policy. He also requested the government to waive the 3 per cent penalty while increasing the registration period of the vehicles to six months. However, the import statis
Leading car maker Tata Motors is against granting exemption to small petrol vehicles weighing up to 909 kg from the strict Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards, saying it would be detrimental for the growth of adoption of models based on sustainable technologies in the country. In a letter to PMO, the Mumbai-based auto major said India's ability to innovate and leapfrog into technologies of the future is now starting to bear fruit, with EV adoption growing to reach nearly 5 per cent in passenger cars. "In this context, we would like to highlight that the provision to grant relaxations/exemptions for petrol vehicles up to 909 kg weight not exceeding 1200 cc and length not exceeding 4000 mm, may result in diluting the focus on adoption of sustainable technologies," the company said in a letter to Shaktikanta Das in the Prime Minister's Office. Relaxations based on vehicle weight may inadvertently incentivise OEMs to reduce weight at the cost of essential safety features,
Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said the scheme of amalgamation with Suzuki Motor Gujarat has become effective from today. Consequent to the effectiveness of the scheme, there has been an increase in the authorised share capital of the company by an amount of Rs 15,000 crore crore the auto major said in a regulatory filing. "We would like to inform that the company has filed the certified copy of the order issued by the Hon'ble National Company Law Tribunal, sanctioning the Scheme of Amalgamation of Suzuki Motor Gujarat, a wholly owned subsidiary (SMG), into and with Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) with the Registrar of Companies, Delhi and accordingly, the scheme becomes effective from today December 1, 2025," it stated. The Appointed Date under the scheme is April 1, 2025 and as such, the amalgamation of SMG into and with MSI has been completed, it added. Maruti Suzuki shares were trading 0.15 per cent up at Rs 15,917.25 apiece on BSE.