Country’s automakers are currently busy struggling to overcome the decade’s worst slowdown in terms of sales!
Thanks to sales performance hitting rock-bottom figures, almost every car manufacturer operating in the country has resorted to ways and means like production cut, reducing staff, increased localisation and exploring new markets to keep themselves aflaot.
Maruti Suzuki, nation’s largest selling car maker, recently charted out a plan to increased its footprint in the rural market. Maruti plans to soon have a total ‘rural-customer’ tally of over 1 lakh and this move doesn’t come across as surprising, especially if you consider that its sales in rural market grew by over 20 percent in current year.
Volkswagen, on the other hand, has decided to venture into new territories of Malaysia, Mexico and Taiwan, all in an attempt to make up for its paltry sales performance in India. VW India is also currently in the process of re-viewing its investment plans for the domestic market.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors has resorted to an eight day production holiday every month and now runs only a single shift at its production facility.
Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors have decided to come up with a new crop of small capacity petrol engines to target the small car market, which accounts for the highest car sales in the country.
Automakers have been suffering from losses from various ends. A 3% increase in excise duty on UVs, de-regulation of diesel prices, and rupee depreciation are among the biggest factors that have affected the Indian automobile industry. Making matters worse arr high rate of interest on car loans and hike in petrol prices too.
Discount offers and other freebies too have failed to revive the car sales.
In the current fiscal, sales of Tata Motors’ dropped by 35%, M&M by 13%, Nissan by 43%, Toyota by 23% and Skoda by 42%.
via ET