Maruti production surpasses parent Suzuki's in 2009

During 2009, Maruti Suzuki rolled out 9,66,399 units, while its parent Suzuki Motor Corporation produced only 9,08,302 cars, according to informed sources. "Maruti Suzuki manufactured 9,66,399 units during the calender year 2009 and its sales for the whole year was 9,67,581 units. Both these figures are higher than Suzuki's production figure of 9,08,302 units," the source informed.

Of the total sales in 2009, Maruti Suzuki sold 8,36,893 units in the domestic market, with the rest 1,30,688 units being exports. Its flagship export model A-Star was the biggest contributor to the overseas sales. In the domestic market, the small car Alto topped the list with 2.4 lakh sales, followed by the WagonR with sales of 1.4 lakh units during reporting period.

Maruti Suzuki has currently 13 models in its portfolio-- the M-800, Omni, Alto, WagonR, Estilo, A-star, Ritz, Swift, Dzire, the sedan SX4, Gypsy, the SUV Grand Vitara and the recently launched family car Eeco. Late last week, the car maker had announced an investment of Rs 1,700 crore to expand the production capacity at its Manesar plant near Gurgaon by 2.5 lakh units annually by 2012.

The development comes at a time when Suzuki Corp is on track to achieve a cumulative sales of 20 million units (two crore) in the Japanese domestic market since beginning of operations 55 years ago. In a press release issued earlier this month in Tokyo, Suzuki said it will cross the mark in late January. Suzuki first ventured into the car market in 1955 with the Suzulight model, which is the forerunner of today’s mini-vehicles.

In comparison, Maruti has already sold 8 million (80 lakh) units in the last 27 years. Maruti enjoys over 50 per cent market share in the domestic market, dominated by small cars, and has been market leader since its launch in the 1980s.