Suzuki Car Sales in India to Overtake Those in Japan

31 March 2007

Nikkei. Demand for passenger cars in India is likely to push Suzuki Motor’s new-car sales in India past those in Japan in fiscal 2007.

Sales in Japan for the automaker are dropping, down 2.7% on preceding 12 months to 594,000 units. Suzuki blamed the decline on cuts in minivehicle output implemented to boost production of cars for export.

Suzuki’s Indian subsidiary, Maruti Udyog Ltd., saw sales surge 22.6% to 571,000 cars during the same period.

Maruti is ramping up its range of product offerings in India to include larger vehicles, and plans to increase its dealerships by 50% by 2010. Last month, a second Indian plant began producing 100,000 units per year of the Swift model. By 2010, Suzuki plans to have production capacity in India of 1 million cars per year.