Maruti Suzuki hints at price hike due to Red Sea crisis

Maruti Suzuki may announce a price hike again in the coming days after increasing the prices of its entire range of passenger vehicles. While the last price hike was announced in the Indian market owing to the rising production costs due to increasing prices of raw materials, the next one could be in the wake of the Red Sea crisis, hinted Maruti Suzuki India's Executive Officer (Corporate Affairs) Rahul Bharti during an analyst call, reported PTI.

Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas started last year, there has been a crisis building up in the Red Sea region. Several container ships have been attacked by the militants in the region, which has been impacting the automotive supply chain as well, hinted Audi India just a few days ago. Now, Maruti Suzuki too has revealed that it is also facing challenges due to the crisis.

The Maruti Suzuki official reportedly said that the auto company is facing some logistical challenges because of the Red Sea crisis. “We are seeing some logistical challenges because of the Red Sea issue. And there may be some increase in costs because of risk or because of rerouting of vessels but it should not be significant," Bharti reportedly said. He noted that the lead time of dispatches might change and there may be some uncertainty in vessels coming and picking up their consignments, among others.

Bharti also stated that this is a small issue and quite common in the export business. However, he also claimed that the company doesn't expect the issue to have a very big impact on the automaker's overseas shipments. Incidentally, Maruti Suzuki is one of the major passenger vehicle exporters in India. The automaker exported around 2.7 lakh made-in-India passenger vehicles to overseas markets around the world in 2023. The car manufacturer has set an aim to export at least 7.5 lakh units of passenger vehicles by the end of this decade to overseas markets.

Maruti Suzuki prepares for EV production and export

During the analyst call, Bharti revealed that Maruti Suzuki is gearing up to commence the production of its first battery electric vehicle in 2024. The first electric car of the company is going to be a mid-sized SUV, which would be derived from the eVX concept showcased first time at the Auto Expo 2023 in February last year and again at the recently concluded Bharat Global Mobility Expo 2024.

The Maruti Suzuki official further said that while catering to the domestic market, the EV will be exported to Japan and Europe as well. "In addition to serving the domestic market, this mid-SUV segment product will be exported to developed markets, such as Japan and Europe," Bharti said.

Elaborating on the upcoming electric SUV, he noted that the mid-sized SUV would be bigger in size than the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and would come promising a range of around 550 kilometres."We have taken care of customers' range anxiety extremely well. It will be a high-spec vehicle. We are hopeful that the customers will receive it well," Bharti said.