Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s exports nearly doubled in May, as its sales to its parent Suzuki Motor Corp’s home market Japan surged amid a slowdown in the country’s car market and global trade uncertainties.
India’s largest car seller is targeting 400,000 passenger vehicle exports in the current financial year as it seeks to offset a slowdown in the domestic market. In FY25, Maruti Suzuki exported 332,585 passenger vehicles.
Maruti’s overseas sales in May rose 80%, its fastest pace in five months, to 31,719 passenger vehicles while domestic sales fell 5% to 148,858 units.
“Incremental growth was led by sales of Fronx and Jimny in the Japanese market. Japan has quickly become our second-largest export destination. We are also seeing strong momentum in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia which have been our strong markets,” Rahul Bharti, senior executive officer of corporate affairs at Maruti Suzuki, said on Monday during a media briefing.
Global markets drive momentum
Exports of electric vehicles, which are set to start later this year, will further boost international sales, he added. Maruti Suzuki had previously said that it will export a majority of the 70,000 EVs it will produce in FY26.
The surge in sales across the world, which also includes Chile, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico, is allowing Maruti to increase its global footprint despite the threat of US president Donald Trump’s threat to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50%.
Maruti’s surge in passenger vehicle exports comes at a time when carmakers of the country are increasingly tapping the international markets. In FY25, passenger vehicle exports from India grew by 15% to 770,364 units.
Domestic market under pressure
The uptick in exports helped Maruti offset some impact of slowdown in sales in the domestic market, which was affected by border tensions with Pakistan in May.
States affected by border tensions with Pakistan accounted for more than a fifth of Maruti’s sales and the cities most affected constituted about 9% of its sales.
“Despite the impact of border tensions on consumers in border states, our growth remained in line with industry,” Partho Banerjee, head of sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki, said.
The management highlighted the rising cost of small cars due to increasing regulations, making them unaffordable for a vast majority of consumers again. Earlier on 25 April, Maruti chairman R.C. Bhargava had said that growth in the car market will not pick up unless cars become affordable again.
“In this current year, sales of small cars have declined by about 9%. If there is such a decline in the sales of cars that can be afforded by 88% of people earning, how can we expect growth?” Bhargava had said during the post-earnings briefing.
Meanwhile, Banerjee struck an optimistic note during the briefing, saying that the expectation of a good monsoon will boost rural growth, likely creating demand for cars.
“We have also calibrated our dispatches to dealers to ensure inventory doesn’t pile up. Our inventory level was at 35 days,” Banerjee said.
While Maruti Suzuki’s domestic sales struggled, Mahindra’s wholesale dispatches during May rose 21% year-on-year to 52,431 units. Tata Motors sold 42,040 cars in May, a decline of 11%.
As per industry estimates for the current financial year, the car market is expected to grow by just 1-2%. In FY25, the country’s car market grew by 2% to 4.3 million units.
Maruti Suzuki’s share price has surged by 9% so far in 2025, as against a 0.7% increase in Nifty Auto index.
