Maruti Suzuki posts a record 6.97 lakh quarter, and warns more price hikes are coming

Maruti Suzuki India reported its results for the July–September quarter on 27 October 2026, and the headline number is a sales record: 696,654 vehicles in three months, up 26.5 per cent on the same quarter last year. That is the most cars the company has ever sold in a quarter. The second headline is less comfortable for buyers: profit fell 27 per cent, and the company says more price increases are on the way.

What happened

The growth was broad. Domestic small-car sales rose 35.9 per cent and SUV sales 68.2 per cent, with Maruti crediting its recently launched SUVs for much of the SUV jump. Domestic market share climbed 2.2 percentage points to 40.8 per cent. Exports held at 108,119 units despite what the company calls a challenging geopolitical situation.

Demand is still running ahead of supply. Even after recent capacity additions, Maruti ended the quarter with network inventory of about 17 days and pending bookings of about 200,000 units. On the analyst call, reported by HT Auto, the company said the backlog had since grown to around 2.7 lakh units, with dealer stock at 16–17 days. Autocar Professional separately reports that Maruti has worked an extra production day in October and may top 2.5 lakh vehicles in the month for the first time.

For the half year, April–September, the company sold 1,379,378 vehicles (up 27.9 per cent), of which 1,146,523 were domestic sales, both records.

The financials are where the strain shows. Net sales reached a record ₹50,615 crore, but operating profit (EBIT) fell to ₹2,804 crore from ₹3,382 crore a year earlier. Maruti blames commodity cost increases linked to the West Asia conflict; HT Auto reports raw-material costs were up 48 per cent year on year and the EBIT margin dropped to 5.5 per cent from 8.4 per cent. Non-operating income also fell on mark-to-market losses. Net profit came in at ₹2,415 crore against ₹3,303 crore last year.

The price-hike signal

Maruti's CEO Hisashi Takeuchi told Bloomberg the company is "doing everything possible to mitigate the impact of the cost increase", and HT Auto reports Maruti plans further increases over the next six months. The company already raised prices twice in the September quarter.

October has brought the first visible moves. According to Mint, citing V3Cars data, the Ertiga ZXi+ petrol manual rose ₹10,000 to ₹11,79,100 and the ZXi+ automatic to ₹13,14,100, with the Tour M fleet variants up ₹2,500. V3Cars also lists the XL6 Alpha+ up ₹10,000 to ₹13,17,100 (manual) and ₹14,52,100 (automatic). All ex-showroom. Other variants of both MPVs are unchanged for now.

These are small, targeted increases on variants that are selling strongly, which is how Maruti has historically done it: a few thousand rupees on the volume trims every quarter rather than one big jump. Expect the same pattern on the SUVs.

What it means for an Indian buyer

If you have a Maruti on order, your delivery date is now the most valuable thing on the booking form. Dealers typically honour the ex-showroom price at the time of invoicing, not booking, so a car delivered in December may cost more than the price quoted in October. Ask your dealer in writing whether the booking price is protected, and if not, whether you can be invoiced before the next revision.

If you are still deciding, the 2.7 lakh order backlog tells you where the waiting periods are: the newer SUVs and the strong-hybrid variants. Maruti says capacity expansion planned from January should ease supply in the second half of the financial year, and it is targeting double-digit volume growth in H2 despite last year's GST-cut base. Small cars are not the problem; Chairman R C Bhargava told ET on 28 October that first-time buyers now make up 54 per cent of Maruti sales and that small-car demand remains strong after the GST cut improved entry-level affordability.

The company also flagged softness in rural demand in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka tied to the monsoon, and said it will wait and watch. That is relevant if you are in a Tier-2 or Tier-3 market: dealer discounts tend to appear first where retail slows.

Separately, Maruti used the week to celebrate the Victoris's first anniversary, launching an Aurum Edition accessory kit for the strong-hybrid variants at ₹22,990. The company claims the Victoris recorded the highest first-year sales of any new passenger-vehicle launch in India, crossing 1.5 lakh units in October.

The Auto Grid angle

A record quarter means a record number of brand-new Marutis hitting Hyderabad roads at once, a large share of them Brezzas, Victorises and Grand Vitaras with first-time owners. We see these cars in the Kondapur bay within the first month, and the damage pattern is consistent: stone chips along the bonnet's leading edge and the lower front bumper from the Outer Ring Road, and parking scuffs on the rear bumper corners. The clear coat on a new car is at its softest in the first weeks, so the sensible order of business is to book PPF for the front end before the first highway trip, not after the first chip. If you are waiting months for delivery, use the time to decide on coverage so the car goes from showroom to studio in the same week.

What to watch

Maruti's November wholesale numbers, due 1 December, will show whether the festive push converted the backlog into retail. Watch also for the next round of price revisions, which the company has all but confirmed for the January quarter, and for detail on the capacity expansion the company has pencilled in from January, which is the key to shortening SUV waiting periods.