Maruti Suzuki India on November 1, 2011 reported a 53.25 per cent fall in its sales for October 2011. In comparison to 1,18,908 units sold by the company for the same period in 2010, the sales for this year plummeted to 55,595 units owing to the labour unrest which has almost paralyzed the production at the Manesar plant.
The company in a statement said, “The labour unrest at company’s Manesar plant during October, 2011, adversely impacted the production and sales numbers. The company lost production of over 40,000 units (Gurgaon and Manesar) in the month.”
The company’s Manesar plant produces the hatchback A-star, the sedan SX4 and the Maruti Swift. The simultaneous strike at Suzuki Powertrain (which makes engines and transmissions), in support of Manesar’s plant workers has also disrupted the supply at the company’s Gurgaon facility.
The strike also affected the exports and the company exported only 4,137 units for October 2011, in comparison to 11,353 units for the same period in the year 2010, indicating a decrease of 63.56 percent in its exports. While the company’s sales of the mini-segment cars, which include the M800, the A-Star, the Alto and the WagonR, fell from 55,404 units for the same period in 2010 to 25,009 units in October 2011, the sales for the compact car segment fell from 24,729 units in the same month in 2010 to 10,859 units in 2011.
