Maruti Suzuki’s sales saw a 40 per cent decline for the month August 2012. The company sold just 54,154 units last month compared to 91,442 units in the corresponding period last year. The dip in numbers was expected, since the company stopped operations at the Manesar facility for one month after the labour riots on 18 July.
The very popular Swift and the Dzire are built at the facility, which remained closed till 20 August. The small car major has resumed operations, but will need some more time to get it up to optimum. The exports also took a hit as MSIL was only able to move 4,025 cars out of the country.
In its small car category the Swift, Estilo and the Ritz sold just 6,059 units resulting in a dip of 62.2 per cent as compared to August 2011 where it sold 16043 units. The Dzire sold 3085 units as compared to 7856 units in August 2011 leading to a dip of 60.7 per cent. The SX4 sedan sold just 447 units as compared to 1893 units in August 2011.
This is the third time since last June that Maruti’s production has been hit by labour issues. The company is hoping the iron out the problem in the next few months, but at the same time plans to achieve 99 per cent automation at the press shop of its Manesar facility that will limit labour requirement and also bring the plant on par with hi-tech plants in Japan.
