Maruti-Suzuki confident that price rise will not affect sales

Riding high after a very successful 2014, Maruti-Suzuki is sure that the price rise will not affect the sales pattern in 2015.

In an otherwise slow automobile market Maruti-Suzuki performed exceptionally well. Blame it on new launches or the facelifts India’s top carmaker is all upbeat for the new year that lies ahead. Undaunted by the price hikes that happened because of the rise in excise duty Maruti is sure that the fall in fuel prices will make up for it and the new year will be merrier than the last one.

Predicting the year ahead, Mr. R. C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki said, “Ultimately you have to look at the total affordability factor for the customer. While the car prices have gone up, if interest rates come down, if petrol prices come down it will offset the increase in price.”

He also added that almost 70% of the customers buy cars via the EMI scheme and an increase of almost 4% will not make much of a difference. It is also expected that to make the car market booming year after year, banks will start charging less interest rates to make car buying a happy affair for the customers.

Maruti-Suzuki also plans to enter segments in 2015 where it is not present as of now.

"We are getting into areas where we were not there, like the SUV segment. So in that sense we will be targeting those areas where we haven't been present. We will also get into the LCV segment," Bhargava said.