Auto markets, although the overall outlook for the sector this year is expected to remain muted, will see ‘‘green shoots by October’‘, said Maruti Suzuki on Friday.

The industry overall, including the apex body, knew the market this year would be little muted, however, green shoots would emerge during festivals by October, said Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki while responding to a query from The Hindu.

According to him, quarter one was one of the highest quarters for the company. Then, there were elections. Customers were not coming out of homes because of severe heat waves in the Northern and Central zones. Another thing was, the base was very high, last year.

In July, the company also carried out some production adjustments in sync with demand scenarios in the retail market, he agreed.

‘’But we expect to see some green shoots with festivals coming from October onwards. The market is not bad. Monsoon is very good this year, so harvesting is going to be good too. Money will come in for circulation,’‘ Mr. Banerjee anticipated.

To cater to the future demand, Maruti Suzuki is scaling up its NEXA network across the country. The Japanese auto major would have opened 650 NEXA outlets, including 100 NEXA Studious, across the country by the end of FY ‘25. Started in August 2015, NEXA channel currently has 500 outlets in over 300 cities.

According to him, NEXA, being a key channel partner, currently contributes to 32% of the company’s total sales and 40% of total exports. 100 NEXA Studios are planned for tier 2 and tier 3 cities and each of these outlets will have a sales potential of 15 to 20 cars every month. Tier 2 and tier 3 cities currently account for 37% of the company’s total sales.

‘’We are scaling up the pace of our growth to increase customer conveniences across the country. We are targeting cities that have the potential for 15 to 20 vehicles a month,’‘ he said.

Mr. Banerjee further said, Maruti Suzuki exported 2.5 lakh units of cars last year while the company’s vision was to export over a million cars by 2030.

‘’We just dispatched 1,600 units of FRONX made in India to Japan and we have been receiving encouraging responses from customers,’‘ he added.