Maruti Suzuki's December production to be down by 15-20% due to chip shortage

As in November, a slowdown in supply of electronic components due to the chip crisis will reduce monthly output across three plants by around 15-20%.

By Ajit Dalvi

01 Dec 2021

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Passenger vehicle market leader Maruti Suzuki continues to feel the pressure of the shortage of semiconductors, which go into multiple electronics components in its range of passenger vehilcles. Similar to the situation in November, the carmaker expects output to be in the region of 80-85% of regular production.

Maruti Suzuki has officially confirmed that its production in December 2021 will be impacted albeit to a lesser extent than it was in the August-September period (see production data table below).

The official statement says, “Owing to a supply constraint of electronic components due to the semiconductor shortage situation, the company is expecting an adverse impact on vehicle production in the month of December ’21 in both Haryana and its contract manufacturing company, Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Limited (SMG) in Gujarat. Though the situation is quite dynamic, it is currently estimated that the total vehicle production volume across both locations could be around 80% to 85% of normal production.”

Maruti Suzuki India’s two plants at Gurgaon and Manesar in Haryana have a combined manufacturing capacity of 1,580,000 while the Suzuki Motor Gujarat plant has a 500,000 units capacity. This adds up to a little over 2 million units per annum (2,080,000). All put together, the three plants’ monthly production is estimated at a little over 173,000 units.

In the second quarter of FY2022 (July-September 2021), the carmaker could not produce an estimated 116,000 vehicles due to the same electronics components shortage. As a result, the carmaker’s output in September was down by nearly 60 percent, and it came at a time when the festive season called for speedy supplies to showrooms across the country.

Like Maruti Suzuki, a number of other carmakers have been affected by the global shortage of semiconductors, whose intensity has reduced but is likely to run well into 2022.

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