Every few days, Maruti seems to be registering new sales record. If it is not their individual car sales record, or their BS6 car sales, there is the total production record. Today, they have set another sales record. And that is of selling 6 lakh automatic car sales.
Maruti had the auto box back in the 80s as well, but that time it was not much in demand – and it was only the manual variant which ruled in sales. But in the last 5 years, sales of automatic transmission options have surged immensely.
Of the 6 lakh automatic cars sold by Maruti till date, 5 lakh are AMT (a cheaper technology of auto box) and the first ever AMT car was launched by Maruti only in 2014 – in the form of Celerio petrol.
Later, Maruti launched 7 more AMT equipped cars. Today the company has a total of 8 AMT cars on sale. These are Alto, WagonR, S-Presso, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Dzire and Brezza. CVT car on offer is only 1 – Baleno. AT cars on offer are Ciaz, Ertiga abd XL6. In all, Maruti sells 9 automatic cars.
Speaking on the occasion of achieving 6 lakh automatic car sales – Mr. Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, “Maruti Suzuki is committed to bring the best of automotive technology to the Indian market.
This major milestone reflects the growing customer acceptance of new technologies that brings comfort and ease of driving. By offering multiple automatic options we are able to cater to diverse customers across segments.”
He added, “Our automatic technology brings ease of driving, especially in city stop and go traffic, excellent fuel efficiency and affordable price.” Maruti Suzuki’s automatic vehicles are popular across the country, particularly in markets like Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai.
Maruti is now getting ready to tackle the Diesel BS6 issue. For now, they are saying that they will discontinue all their diesel cars before 1st April 2020 – as they will not be updating their diesel engines to meet BS6 norms. They are of the opinion that diesel BS6 cars will get really expensive, and will thus result in lower sales.
Thus it is not worth investing in updating to diesel BS6 tech. But, at the same time, there are reports which says that Maruti may launch diesel BS6 option in their larger cars like Ertiga, XL6 and Ciaz. But this will happen by early 2021, as they would want to see how the market reacts to BS6 diesel cars post the govt deadline of 1st April 2020.
