Maruti Suzuki said vehicle sales in the third fiscal quarter to 31 December, 2013 slipped 4.4% year on year to 288,151. Third quarter exports were off 38.6% to 19,966 cars.
“Sales remained under stress during the period, in both domestic and export markets,” the automaker said in a statement, adding that it did, however, boost domestic market share 2.5% to 42.8%.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Revenue fell 3% to INR106,197m. Net profit, however, improved a healthy 35.9% to INR6,811m.
“Higher localisation, favourable foreign exchange and cost reduction initiatives by the company contributed significantly to net profit,” the Suzuki Motor affiliate said.
During the first nine months of fiscal 2013/14, Maruti sold 830,171 units including 75,078 exports (versus 827,725 and 85,550 respectively in the same period of 2012/13).
Revenue grew 4.3% to INR308,266m, and net profit soared 72.1% to INR19,830m.
Maruti chairman RC Bhargava told Reuters the company saw no indications of a near-term recovery in demand.
Car sales in Asia’s third-largest economy are likely to fall in the current financial year that ends in March, down a second year, as high interest rates and a slowing economy force consumers to delay purchases, the news agency noted.
