SUV Demand Helps Shield Maruti Suzuki From Worst of Cash Crunch
- Automaker’s compact utility vehicle deliveries surged 88%
- Introduction of higher-priced models helps boost profit
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Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. reported third-quarter profit climbed 47 percent as India’s biggest automaker increased its share of sales of sport utility vehicles, a more affluent market segment that better weathered the cash crunch affecting predominantly the country’s poor.
Net income climbed to 17.4 billion rupees ($255 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, in line with analysts’ estimates and up from 11.8 billion rupees a year earlier, the New Delhi-based unit of Suzuki Motor Corp. said in a statement Wednesday. Revenue increased 13 percent to 191.7 billion rupees, exceeding analyst estimates.