Maruti Suzuki Looks To Enhance Exports: Maruti Suzuki India is targeting markets like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Mexico, and other Latin American countries with its upcoming new version of compact sedan Dzire to accelerate exports as it eyes over 300,000 units of overseas shipments this fiscal, a senior company official said on Wednesday. In the domestic market, the company hopes to enhance its share in the sedan market amid the passenger vehicles market shifting towards SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles), with the new Dzire which is slated for launch next week.

“We have been growing (exports) at a rate of about 11.9 per cent in the first seven months of the financial year and we hope to continue on that momentum. So we hope to do more than about 300,000 car exports within this financial year,” Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director Corporate Affairs Rahul Bharti said. In contrast, just about four years ago, the company’s exports were below 100,000 per year, he added.

“So, now we’ll be doing about three times of that, and by the turn of the decade, we hope to multiply it another three times over to something like 800,000 units a year,” Bharti added. Elaborating on the export strategy, Bharti said, “One of the biggest enablers of increasing export is more models in more geographies. So, we are adding the number of models, and we are adding the markets also.”

 

At the moment, he said, the company is exporting to Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Further, he said, “At some point in time, we will re-enter Europe and Japan also (with upcoming electric SUV).”

 

With the upcoming new version of Dzire compact sedan, Bharti said, “We hope to increase our exports also because with the new sleek design, technologies, six airbags, as standard, it is being widely accepted in the market.”

 

He further said, “We have to increase the density in those (existing) markets. We will target markets like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Mexico, other countries in Latin America and maybe some markets in Southeast Asia also.”

 

The existing Dzire model was among the top three export models in October, he added. On the domestic front, Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Partho Banerjee said the company hopes to enhance its share in the sedan market with the new offering.

Last year, the outgoing version of Dzire clocked over 160,000 units, he said, adding that with the new offering coming in, the company expects more growth. “Every second car which is sold in the sedan segment (in the domestic market) happens to be from Maruti…We are, in fact, increasing our market share in the sedan segment,” he asserted.

Banerjee acknowledged that with the SUVs growing faster, the sedan segment is shrinking but sedans will continue to have its market as SUV demand stabilises at some point in time. “Being the market leader we need to be present in all the segments.

“Our take is this, in each segment, we need to be present and offer products to the consumers. Let the consumer decide which form factor they want to go,” Banerjee said.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd shares slipped almost 6% early in their Mumbai debut, a tepid start to trading for what was the nation’s largest-ever initial public offering.
The shares traded as low as 1,844.65 rupees after they were priced at 1,960 rupees, the top of the marketed range. South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co sold a 17.5% stake in its local unit in the IPO, seeking to benefit from the investor frenzy for share sales in India — one of the world’s most vibrant venues for listings this year.
Hyundai Motor India, the nation’s second-largest carmaker by sales, was valued at about $19 billion in the IPO. Some saw the shares as pricey, with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Joanna Chen noting the valuation was about five times its Korean parent’s, though in line with those of Indian peers such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
While the offering was eventually oversubscribed more than two times, book-building was slower than some had anticipated. Hyundai’s deal saw strong demand from institutions, which flooded in on the last day of sale. Retail investors, however, only bought about half the portion that had been reserved for them in the IPO.

Individual traders were turned off by the parent company getting all of the IPO proceeds as well as cooling demand in India’s auto industry, analysts have said. The poor retail interest stands in contrast to the frenzy seen in some recent IPOs, particularly smaller issues.
‘Long-term value’
Hyundai’s initial decline makes it an outlier given that enthusiasm for Indian share sales has generally carried over to their post-listing performance. New listings in the nation have risen by an average of 39% in their first trading day this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among IPOs of over $500 million, the average gain was 66%.
Some analysts are positive on the stock’s long-term prospects.

“Hyundai Motor India’s IPO offers potential long-term value, but it is not suited for investors seeking quick gains,” Devi Subhakesan, an analyst at Investory Pte, wrote in a note on Smartkarma ahead of the debut. “Valuation risks are expected” amid shifting consumer preferences and rising competition in India’s auto industry.
India’s emergence as the world’s fastest-growing major economy as well as its expanding middle class present an opportunity for automakers. The nation’s car market is on track to reach 20 million units by 2047, Suzuki Motor Corp. Executive Vice President Kenichi Ayukawa said in an interview in July. A total of 4.2 million passenger vehicles were sold in India in the fiscal year ended in March, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Nomura Holdings Inc initiated coverage with a buy rating ahead of the listing, citing expectations for “healthy” volume growth and vehicle price increases. It set a price target of 2,472 rupees, implying a potential upside of about 26% over the IPO price.
With Hyundai’s proceeds, Indian IPOs have raised more than $12 billion so far this year, eclipsing volumes for the past two years but still below the record $17.8 billion raised in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Other pending debuts include food-delivery company Swiggy Ltd. and the renewable-energy arm of state-run power producer NTPC Ltd.
Around 20 companies from Asia Pacific are listing shares this week in deals that may raise more than $8 billion, the biggest weekly volume since April 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Shares of Japan’s Tokyo Metro Co are scheduled to start trading on Wednesday after a $2.3 billion offering.

NEW DELHI: Automobile exports from India in the first six months of the current fiscal year rose 14 per cent year-on-year, led by gains in shipments of passenger vehicles and two-wheelers. According to Siam data, the overall exports in the April-September period stood at 25,28,248 units, up 14 per cent as compared with 22,11,457 units in the year-ago period.
“Key markets like Latin America and Africa, which had slowed down for various reasons, have bounced back. This has been the main reason for exports coming back,” Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) President Shailesh Chandra said.
He was replying to a query on the reasons for the bouncing back of vehicle exports in the April-September period.
Various African nations and other regions faced challenges due to devaluation of currencies. This impacted the vehicle shipments as the nations focussed on import of essential items.
Automobile exports declined 5.5 per cent in FY24 due to the monetary crisis in various overseas markets.
Overall exports stood at 45,00,492 units in the last fiscal year as compared with 47,61,299 units in FY23.
Total passenger vehicle shipments rose 12 per cent year-on-year to 3,76,679 units in the first half of the current fiscal year as against 3,36,754 units in the September quarter of FY24.
The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki led the vertical with shipments of 1,47,063 units, an increase of 12 per cent over 1,31,546 units in the year-ago period.
Hyundai Motor India exported 84,900 units, a drop of 1 per cent, as against 86,105 units in April-September period of the previous fiscal year.
Two-wheeler exports rose 16 per cent year-on-year to 19,59,145 units in the April-September period this fiscal year as compared with 16,85,907 units in the year-ago period.
Scooter shipments increased 19 per cent to 3,14,533 units while motorcycle exports rose 16 per cent to 16,41,804 units during the period under review.
Commercial vehicle exports rose 12 per cent year-on-year to 35,731 units in the first six months of the fiscal year.
Three-wheeler shipments, however, declined 1 per cent during the period to 1,53,199 units as compared with 1,55,154 units in the April-September period of the 2023-24 fiscal year.