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ShareNEW DELHI: When Osamu Suzuki-san came to India a few months ago, he challenged Maruti Udyog to beat the Japanese parent to become the largest Suzuki operation anywhere in the world. That milestone is in sight. In fact, it has already edged ahead, according to DNA Money data.
"We hope to cross the 7- lakh vehicle mark next fiscal," Jagdish Khattar, managing director, Maruti Udyog, told DNA Money in an exclusive interview.
While Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) is the third-largest automobile maker in Japan, Maruti is the largest car maker in India. And compared to an average 3% growth rate SMC has been registering in Japan year-on-year, Indian operations have posted much higher growth rates. During the last nine months alone, Maruti saw sales grow 16%.
If it still looks a lofty target for Maruti to achieve, here's some math. Last fiscal, SMC sold 7.07 lakh vehicles while Maruti reported 5.61 lakh vehicle sales.
If the growth rate of each market is taken into account, SMC is expected to close 2006-07 at about 7.28 lakh vehicles and close to 7.5 lakh next fiscal. However, if Maruti continues with its good performance, then it may well end up selling close to 6.5 lakh units this year and take it closer to 7.5 lakh in 2007-08. So, Khattar's wish could well come true. Khattar's enthusiasm stems not only from the hard work his team has been putting in, but also from the boost in production capacity, with the addition of a second manufacturing plant last month.
But does India's expected dominance in the Suzuki brand mean Suzuki would shift base to India? Khattar only smiled at the question, but his enthusiasm makes it clear that Maruti Udyog is poised to maintain its comfortable lead over all other car makers in India for at least some more time to come.
Which is perhaps why Suzuki has already committed Rs 9,000 crore in this country till 2010 and does not seem concerned over Nissan's no-show on the other small-car project.
