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SUVs had caused Maruti Suzuki, which traditionally sold one of every two vehicles on Indian roads, to lose share in a market that tilted heavily toward these utility cars. A revamped portfolio of SUVs has already logged 100,000 bookings so far just weeks into the unveiling of two models, giving the Japanese carmaker the confidence it needs to win the volume sweepstakes in a market where prices – or loan rates – haven’t dented demand just yet.
The just-launched Brezza, and yet-to-be-launched Grand Vitara, have boosted Maruti’s booking charts. Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director, Maruti Suzuki, told ET that going by vehicle buying trends globally, SUVs should comprise half of the passenger vehicle market in India.
“There is a clear need to strengthen our portfolio in SUVs, which we are doing. We have received very good responses to both Brezza and the Grand Vitara. There are a lot of customer enquiries about the strong hybrid technology,” said Srivastava. Nearly half of the pre-orders for the Grand Vitara have come in for the variant with the technology.
Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara – among other options – will come equipped with strong hybrid technology sourced from Toyota.
Overall, the company has received 75,000 bookings for the Brezza and an additional 26,000 bookings for the Grand Vitara, which is slated to go on sale next month.
The entry and mid SUVs together account for nearly 40% of all passenger vehicles sold in the local market, currently. Srivastava explained that while the company’s market share in passenger cars has inched up to an all-time high of 67%, the lack of product interventions in the SUV category dragged down overall market share to 44% in the last financial year.
As many as 652,000 entry SUV and 520,000 units of midsize SUVs were sold in the local market in the last financial year. “We expect the SUV segment to grow at a CAGR of 9-10% in the next 3-5 years. It is a war cry for us to strengthen our position in this segment,” he said.
The company has lined up a range of SUVs priced up to Rs 20 lakh, said people aware of its plans.
At present, South Korean automaker Hyundai is the leader in India’s SUV segment. It recorded sales of about a quarter million SUVs and a market share of 22% in the last fiscal year.
Strong demand for the Tata Punch small SUV has boosted Tata Motors SUV sales, which are now neck-to-neck on a monthly basis with Hyundai Motor India. Tata Motors sold 205,000 SUVs for a market share of 18% in FY22. Mahindra & Mahindra had a 14% share (excluding the Bolero) in the same period. Maruti Suzuki – with the sole model Brezza – had a share of about 12%.
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