In an unprecedented development, automobile major Maruti has halted its production at its plants in Haryana's Gurugram and Manesar for a day on Monday. Maruti resorted to the unscheduled production cut on surging inventories, according to news reports. Maruti has reportedly ran out of parking space and is overstocked.
The temporary halt in production owing to lack of demand could be seen as a fallout of the lacklustre performance the automobile sector is currently witnessing. Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales dropped by 17.07 per cent in April, the steepest fall since October 2011, as weak customer sentiment led by liquidity crunch, uncertainty revolving elections and high product prices hit sales. Overall, automobile sales declined for the sixth straight month in April to 2,47,541 units, as against 2,98,504 units in the year-ago month.
Maruti, the country's largest car manufacturer, reported 17.2 per cent decline in total sales in April. While sales volume stood at 1,43,245 units in April this year, the same was about 1,72,986 units in the corresponding month last year.
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The overall sales figure of Maruti declined due to the domestic sales that nosedived in April. The total domestic sales of Maruti Suzuki declined by 18.7 per cent at 1,34,068 units last month, compared to 1,64,978 units in April, 2018. However, the company saw its exports rising to 1,169 units, a growth of 14.6 per cent over April 2018.
All major segments, including two-wheelers and commercial vehicles, witnessed a decline in sales in April.
