Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) will shut down its manufacturing plants for regular bi-annual maintenance from June 6-11. The maintenance shutdown was earlier scheduled from June 27 - July 2, but Maruti Suzuki has decided to advance the schedule, without giving any reasons.
Production at Maruti Suzuki had already been affected after the company suspended operations at both its plants in Manesar and Gurugram on May 30. That decision was taken following a fire accident at the Manesar facilities of one of its top suppliers - Subros Limited. Subros is Maruti's largest supplier of air conditioning systems and the disruption in supply of components led to the suspension of production at the Maruti plants.
Although Maruti Suzuki did resume production at the Gurugram facility on June 1, as well as some operations at Manesar, the decision to reschedule the maintenance shutdown is expected to further impact production of Maruti Suzuki vehicles. This, in turn, is expected to have an effect on the company's sales volumes.
In February this year, Maruti Suzuki had to suspend production at the Gurugram plant due to a protest by the Jaat community in Haryana. That shutdown had also resulted in considerable decrease in production. The upcoming maintenance shutdown is likely to impact the waiting period for Maruti Suzuki's popular models, including the recently launched Vitara Brezza and Baleno.
The Vitara Brezza already commands a waiting period of 7-9 months while the Baleno currently commands a waiting period of six months. The production suspension will also likely impact Maruti Suzuki's exports, as the Baleno is only manufactured in India, even for international markets. The impact of the shutdown of Maruti Suzuki's plants will not just be limited to these two models, but the waiting period is expected to increase for all Maruti Suzuki models.
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