Maruti Suzuki bookings touch 2.5 lakh this festive season; exports grew by 50 pc

NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki has had one of the company’s strongest performances in the past decade this festive season, with bookings reaching 2.5 lakh and exports growing by 50 per cent. Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki, said the demand this year has been unprecedented.

“During this Navratri period, the company has delivered an impressive 1,65,000 vehicles in the first eight days and expects to reach a record 2,00,000 deliveries by Dussehra, surpassing previous records from the past ten years. The company has received an excellent response, with current bookings standing at 2.5 lakh”, he said.

According to Banerjee, last year’s Navratri deliveries totalled around 1 lakh vehicles, indicating that sales have nearly doubled this year. He added that the growth is linked to the GST reform introduced by the government. “Exports have also seen a 50 per cent growth, with 42,000 vehicles exported. The company’s production team is working on Sundays and holidays to meet the high demand, and they anticipate a very good October with 2.5 lakh pending bookings. The focus remains on delivering vehicles to customers as quickly as possible,” he said.

He explained that after the GST Council announced a rate cut in August, many buyers who had held back purchases earlier began to book cars. This has contributed to the high demand seen in October.

Earlier in September, Banerjee highlighted how the company and its partners were working around the clock to serve customers during the festive rush. “Our dealer partners are working day and night in showrooms to deliver cars to customers. Our finance partners are busy sanctioning loans as soon as possible and giving delivery orders so that we can deliver cars to customers. The reason behind this rush is GST 2.0 reforms. This has created positivity everywhere”, he said.

“Bookings, which earlier used to be around 10,000, are now at the level of 18,000 per day. In small cars also, we are seeing very good traction in terms of bookings. An interesting part is that beyond 100 cities, the response is even better. The bookings have almost doubled–100 per cent growth”, he said.

Banerjee also noted the strength in smaller car sales. “We are witnessing 100 per cent sales growth in small cars. In metropolitan cities, we are witnessing growth of around 35-40 per cent”, he added. (ANI)