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Maruti's profit down, Alto 800, Swift, Alto, Ertiga emerge as savior

It seems that the July-Aug lockout due to the Manesar crisis at the Maruti plant will have its impact all through the year. The plant shutdown had resulted in the loss of production of the Maruti Swift and Maruti Swift Dzire besides the export mode Maruti A Star and the premium sedan Maruti SX4. Following the no production and the resulting loss of supply has left a scar on Maruti’s face. Resultantly, the car maker has reported a drop in the net profit by 5.4 percent in the fifth quarter. This is a serious thing for Maruti but experts believe that the situation would have been worse if Maruti Ertiga and the recent launch of the Maruti Alto 800 would not have handled the situation well. Besides, Swift, Alto and Swift Dzire have also become a savoir for Maruti. 

It is believed there could have been a larger damage to the profit margin and the car maker could have to post a net loss this year following the shutdown of the Manesar plant but the timely Maruti Alto launch has reversed the trend. It is said that the Alto 800 has exceeded over 28 k bookings after it was launched on October 16. Also, the present season is the festive season and there is large number of car buying this festive season. Those models which were considered to be low volumes have also picked up some decent numbers.

 

As per the official release by Maruti, it had received a net profit of 2.27 billion rupees this quarter which is 5.4 percent less than the 2.40 billion rupees net profit it posted in the July-September quarter. However, the net profit was quite generous seeing the situation that the car maker had been through. Meanwhile, the sale of Maruti cars also fell by 8.7 percent in the said quarter and it sold 2.30 lakh cars. Interestingly, the car maker has 1.25 lakh diesel cars to be delivered.