India's Top Car-maker Maruti Suzuki's November Sales Down 9% On Chip Shortage

India's leading car-making company Maruti Suzuki announced on Wednesday that its total sales for November this year dropped by 9 percent year-on-year and stood at 139,184 units because of a global chip shortage.

Last November, the car-maker reported total sales of 153,223 units.

“The shortage of electronic components had a minor effect on the production of vehicles during the month. The shortage primarily affected the production of vehicles sold in the domestic market. The company took all possible measures to minimise the impact," the business said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Maruti Suzuki reported that production at its plants in Haryana and Gujarat states will drop in December, because of supply constraints of electronic components.

India Seeks Early Solution to Chip Shortage at G-20 Summit as Crisis Reaches Unprecedented Level

29 October 2021, 19:14 GMT

According to the firm's estimates, total vehicle production volume in both locations is expected to be around 80 to 85 percent of normal production this month.

"Because of a supply constraint of electronic components resulting from the semiconductor shortage situation, the company is expecting an adverse impact on vehicle production in the month of December 2021 in both Haryana and its contract manufacturing company, Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG) in Gujarat," the automobile manufacturer said on Tuesday.

Semiconductor Crisis - A Difficult Time for Other Car-Makers

Some other leading car-makers have also indicated that they are facing tough times because of the semiconductor shortage.

On Wednesday, MG Motors said it sold 2,481 units in November 2021, 40 percent down year-on-year.

"Enduring the industry challenges of a global semiconductor chip shortage, which has severely constrained the production levels, MG Motor is continuously working towards delivering to customers their much-awaited MG cars on time," the company said in a statement.

The drop in sales has occurred at a time when car-makers across the globe have been forced to make sharp production cuts because of disruption fuelled by chip shortages.

Millions of products other than cars, such as laptops, video games, medical diagnostics, smartphones, washing machines, and many more rely on computer chips.

At present "there just aren't enough of them to meet industry demand. As a result, many popular products are in short supply," a BBC report stated in August.

A rapid surge in demand for consumer electronics appears to have caused an acute shortage of semiconductors, especially for the auto sector around the world.