Shift in sales towards cars priced below Rs 5 lakh: Maruti's R C Bhargava

It is nowhere near the company's average sales in a month. We are producing vehicles that constitute only 60% of our capacity in Gurgaon and Manesar, Bhargava said

With sales of Maruti Suzuki reaching 100,000 in July this year, there are hopes that passenger cars are getting back on track earlier than many analysts had projected. But Chairman R C Bhargava, in an interview with Surajeet Das Gupta, puts these numbers in perspective and says they are nowhere near normal sales and demand cannot be predicted for the coming months. Edited excerpts:

What explains the surge in July sales, which are close to what you were doing last year in the same month?

There is pent-up demand. After all, there has been a long lockdown from the end