Pricey SUVs help small-car king Maruti Suzuki battle domestic blues

India’s largest automobile manufacturer, 1% growth in profit La3,792 crore and 10% growth in consolidated income La40,493 Crore is in the first three months of 26 financial years. Due to profitability, commodity inflation and increase in employee costs, it was taken back with a decrease of 200 basis points in the profit margins.

Income increased even if the sales in the domestic market increased, and the first three months of Maruti’s total domestic sales fell by 5%. Growth was largely due to the sale of higher priced SUVs such as Grand Vitara, Fronx, Jimny and Brazza.

SUV Revolution

Increased sales of such cars, the average sales price of the Maruti portfolio (ASP) is more La7.27 Lakh increases by 7% compared to one year ago. Maruti Suzuki Senior Executive Officer Rahul Bharti, during the call for earnings on Thursday, “Higher SUV sales models with a mixture of ASP has led to an increase.” He said.

Maruti’s consequences reflect the tendency sent by Hyundai Motor India Ltd and Mahindra and Mahindra LTD, which emphasized the importance of SUVs. Hyundai saw a 8% decrease in snow La1,369 CRORE, MAHindra saw 24% growth in snow LaAll-SUV portfolio continued to find 4,376 Crore traction.

The management also attributed the growth of the upper and lower lines to strong growth in exports. Exports increased by 37% in the quarter and rose to 96,972, and the company expects to increase with the launch of Grand Evitara in September. Approximately 70,000 are waiting to sell in 26 financial years and coordinates distribution networks to address 100 countries.

A better second half hopes

In the domestic market, management, festival season and a good monsoon expectations because of a better second half, he said. Bharti, investors and analysts, rural markets, so far is better than urban areas, he said. Bharti, “Inventory situation under control. We manage levels. We have a 33 -day inventory in our network,” he said.

In the coming quarters, the company will focus more on SUVs with two new launch for this year. Grand Evitara is expected to hit the domestic market in September. Bharti said that in the future, model launch will go to SUVs and bend more.

Analysts said that export growth and model mixture to the SUVs helped Maruti’s upper and profitability growth. “Festival will be something to follow the demand for the festive season. We will have to see how the demand has developed, but Maruti seems to have been well placed to provide some sales from SUVs, although Maruti has recently lost its market share. “Inventory levels will be key and watched and the demand is soft.”

Rare world problems

However, China’s restrictions on rare earth magnets blurred the appearance for all automobile manufacturers, and Maruti President RC Bhargava said that the company had stocks until July. “This is a challenge… We do not see much effect because we manage the situation. Consumption is higher houses than ice vehicles, but it is used in everyone,

Both Mahindra and Hyundai said that the situation was managed for now and which alternative magnet resources were investigated without any impact on production.

Maruti, which released its results after Sunday hours on Thursday, saw a share price increase in 2025 against a 2% increase in the Nifty Auto index.