Maruti Suzuki Launches First-Ever Limited-Edition Cars Amid Inventory Buildup

India’s biggest carmaker has launched its first-ever limited edition, that too of its smallest cars, when there are few takers for entry-level models.

The so-called 'Dream Series' includes three of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.’s smallest cars—Alto K10, Celerio and S-Presso—with additional features seen as essential by buyers, according to a company statement. These limited-edition cars—available for the month of June 2024 only—are priced at Rs 4.99 lakh. The pricing is such since the calculation of registration costs changes for four-wheelers priced Rs 5 lakh and above.

Separately, Maruti Suzuki has reduced by Rs 5,000 the prices of the automatic variants of the Alto K10, S-Presso, Celerio, Wagon-R, Swift, Dzire, Baleno, Fronx and Ignis models.

"At Maruti Suzuki, we understand the crucial role that affordable entry-level cars play in the sustained growth of India's passenger vehicle market," Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing & sales) at the Delhi-based carmaker, said in the statement.

"Our 'Dream Series Limited Edition' models and reduced AGS (auto gear shift) prices demonstrate our dedication to make car ownership and advanced technology accessible to a wider section of society."

These moves, which Maruti Suzuki says are aimed at making "car ownership and advanced technologies more accessible to a wider range of customers", come amid dwindling sales of entry-level and compact cars.

The Alto K10, India's best-selling cars for decades, along with the S-Presso, clocked 9,902 units in May. As many as 13,978 units of these mini cars were produced last month. In the compact space, Maruti Suzuki sold 68,206 units as against production of 89,913 units.

These are wholesale numbers—retail sales will be even fewer.

Naturally, there has been a build-up of inventory, most of which is small cars. As on May 31, Maruti Suzuki was sitting on an inventory of 1.68 lakh units—or 35–36 days of buffer stock. That far exceeds the 1.57 lakh units the company sold last month.

Still, Maruti Suzuki said it’s comfortable with the pile-up.

"The inventory level, though at more than a month, includes transit time. That should start easing once the election results are out," Banerjee said on June 1, while declaring the company’s May sales figures.