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Bloomberg
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. reported third-quarter profit climbed 47 percent as India’s biggest automaker increased its share of sales of sport utility vehicles, a more affluent market segment that better weathered the cash crunch affecting predominantly the country’s poor. Net income climbed to 17.4 billion rupees ($255 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, in line with analysts’ estimates and up from 11.8 billion rupees a year earlier, the New Delhi-based unit of Suzuki Motor Corp. said in a statement Wednesday. Revenue increased 13 percent to 191.7 billion rupees, exceeding analyst estimates.
The gain in profit is powered by sales of more lucrative and expensive SUVs, part of a strategy by India’s biggest automaker to increase the offerings of higher-priced models. While many first-time buyers have postponed their purchases of small cars amid the cash crunch, sales of compact sport utility vehicles have surged as existing auto owners upgraded. Maruti’s deliveries in the quarter climbed 3.9 percent, compared with a 0.6 percent gain in industrywide sales, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.