Slowdown Blues: Maruti Suzuki cuts production for 9th month in a row

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reduced its production by 20.7 per cent in October, making it the ninth straight month when the country''s largest carmaker lowered its output.

The company produced a total of 1,19,337 units in October as against 1,50,497 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a regulatory filing.

Passenger vehicles'' production last month stood at 1,17,383 units as against 1,48,318 units in October 2018, a decline of 20.85 per cent, it added.

Production of mini and compact segment cars, including Alto, New WagonR, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno and Dzire stood at 85,064 units as against 1,08,462 units in October last year, down 21.57 per cent.

Production of utility vehicles such as Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and S-Cross, however, increased marginally to 22,736 units as compared with 22,526 units a year ago.

Mid-sized sedan Ciaz saw its production fall to 1,922 units in October from 3,513 units in the same month last year.

Light commercial vehicle Super Carry''s production was also trimmed to 1,954 units last month from 2,179 units in October 2018, the filing said.

In September, the automaker had cut its production by 17.48 per cent to 1,32,199 units.