New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) is experiencing its best-ever festive season, securing a record-breaking 4 lakh bookings and selling 2.5 lakh cars in the last month alone, a senior company executive announced on Tuesday. This massive surge in demand is largely driven by a significant revival in the entry-level car segment, fueled by price reductions following a GST rate cut.
The share of small cars in the automaker’s total sales has jumped from 16.7 percent to over 22 percent in the period following the GST rate rationalization, which came into effect on September 22.
“We have received over 4 lakh bookings in the last four weeks, meaning 1 lakh bookings each week, which is the all-time highest for us,” said Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) at MSIL. He added that of these, over 80,000 bookings were for entry-level cars, indicating a strong comeback for a segment that had seen a decline in recent years.
The surge began after the GST council announced a rate rejig on September 3, with MSIL passing on the benefits to customers with price cuts effective from September 22. Under the new structure, small cars now attract an 18 percent GST, a significant drop from the earlier 29-31 percent tax bracket.
Banerjee attributed this growth to increased confidence among two-wheeler customers to upgrade to a car following the price reduction. “We are seeing a lot of people with helmets visiting our showrooms,” he remarked. To meet the unprecedented demand, he noted that the “production team is even working on Sundays”.
