Maruti Suzuki chairman warns of more hit on auto sales

Days after expressing hope that auto sales will go up post-election, Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava on Friday expressed apprehensions as he fears factors like the US embargo on Iranian crude imports and new emission norms playing spoilsport.

"I would have had great confidence that auto demand will pick up after the Lok Sabha polls, but the US putting an embargo on Iranian oil exports and BS-IV emission norms are some of the factors which may hit auto sales going forward," Bhargava told reporters.

Commenting on Maruti Suzuki's announcement to discontinue diesel cars from next April, Bhargava said the impact of this decision on volumes would be known from July.

"We need two to three months, say till June-end, to know how customers would actually behave. So, when we will meet for the first quarter results in July, we will have a clearer idea as to what is happening in the market," he said.

Bhargava was here to lay the foundation stone for a multi-specialty hospital and a senior secondary school at Sitapur village in north Gujarat.

The hospital and school project will come up with an investment of Rs 120 crore under the CSR initiative of the company.