Maruti Suzuki may discontinue small cars like Alto and Wagon R, know what is the reason?

0
Alto and Wagon R

New Delhi: Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in January prepared a draft for automakers in India to make six airbags mandatory in all their new passenger vehicles. Due to the increased security, this decision of the government was very much liked by the car buyers. But, some car makers have not liked this decision. They believe that making six airbags mandatory in passenger cars will increase the price of the vehicle and will have a direct impact on their sales.

According to Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava, such a move will hurt the sales of low-cost cars and will put a lot of pressure on companies already battling high prices.

That’s why small cars can be closed
Bhargava feared that sales of small vehicles would continue to decline due to the pandemic, while demand for larger, costlier vehicles would increase. In a recent interview with the Times of India, Bhargava said that small cars do not make much profit for the automaker and India’s largest carmaker will not hesitate to discontinue small cars if they become impractical.

Alto and Wagon R

The price of small cars will increase so much
India is the fifth largest vehicle market in the world with annual sales of around 3 million units. Maruti Suzuki is the largest vehicle manufacturer in the country. Most of the cars in the country are sold in the Rs 4 lakh to Rs 7 lakh segment. Among them, the number of hatchback cars is the highest. According to auto market data provider JATO Dynamics, it is already mandatory to provide the driver and front passenger airbags in all cars, and adding another four airbags will increase the cost by Rs 17,600.

Will the cars sell at a higher price?
Ravi Bhatia, president of India at JATO, said the cost could be even higher in some cases, as companies would also have to modify the design of the car to accommodate the additional airbags. “Companies will need to decide whether it is feasible to make changes and whether the model will sell for a higher price,” he said.

Advertisement