Maruti Suzuki said that it expects to hike output by 27% for the entire fiscal to 1.3 million units. While it expects 2010-11 sales to grow 19%, as it expects that September would be another record month, with sales growth of about 33 per cent.
The company, which ended 2009-10 with an output of 1.02 million units, hopes to produce more this year without the addition of any new production line, but through efficient manufacturing practices such as better balancing of lines and de-bottlenecking of process.
Maruti Suzuki has an annual installed capacity of just 1 million units across its four production lines in the two facilities in Gurgaon and Manesar.
Waiting period
Maruti has waiting period for all models, except the 800, A Star and the Estilo. While the highest is on the Swift Dzire of 4-5 months, the Swift has a three-month waiting period and the Eeco MUV a five-month wait.
Maruti will try its best to reduce waiting periods and make the popular models faster then expected.
Maruti has also changed its reporting standards for market share in line with the industry. It would now include Utility vehicles (B segment) as well, besides passenger cars (A segment) and the Omni, Eeco category (C segment).
The company also expects European exports to drop to 120,000 units this year from 150,000 units last year.
Source: HBL
