Maruti eyes doubling SUV sales this fiscal; looks to take leadership position

New Delhi: The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India aims to more than double its SUV sales this year and take the leadership position in the fast-growing segment with a market share of over 25 per cent, according to a senior company official.

The auto major sold 2.02 lakh sports utility vehicles (SUVs) last financial year with a market share of around 13 per cent. In the current fiscal year, the company aims to sell around 5 lakh units.

The SUV segment is currently the fastest-growing vertical in the domestic passenger vehicle industry.

The SUV contribution to the overall passenger vehicle market has grown from 24 per cent in 2018 to 43 per cent in 2022.

In an interaction with PTI, Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer (Sales & Marketing) Shashank Srivastava said the doubling of the market share in the SUV segment would also help the company in its bid to again surpass the 50 per cent market share mark in the domestic passenger vehicle industry.

"This fiscal year we expect our SUV market share to rise to 25 per cent. The SUV market is expected to be around 19 lakh units this year," Srivastava said.

For the company, Brezza is leading the entry SUV segment while a full impact of Grand Vitara in terms of sales is also expected to come into play this year, he noted.

Besides, the addition of two new models -- Jimny and Fronx -- would also help in bringing in additional volumes this fiscal, he added.

Srivastava noted that MSI has already received close to 41,000 bookings for the two models which are slated to hit the market over the next few months.

He noted that the company's SUV market share has been increasing over the last few fiscal. It stood at 10.5 per cent in 2021-22 and increased to 13 per cent last fiscal, he stated.

"We ended the fourth quarter at around 17 per cent. So we have gained market share due to the better availability of Brezza and the introduction of Grand Vitara. And now Fronx and Jimny should give us additional numbers. So we are hoping that we will be number one in the SUV space this year," Srivastava said.

MSI competes with Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Hyundai Motor India for the top slot in the SUV space.

Srivastava said the company's market share in the non-SUV segment stood at around 65 per cent but due to low penetration in the SUV segment, its overall market share has gone below the 45 per cent level.

"If we want to increase it towards 50 per cent, we will have to increase our market share in the SUV space and this is what we are trying to do," he added.

When asked if the current product range would be sufficient to make gains in the segment, Srivastava said: "With these four vehicles, we hope that we can be the leading player in the segment." MSI also remains bullish on the CNG segment despite an increase in the price of the fuel impacting the overall sales in the vertical. Despite the increase in prices, the company sold 3.25 lakh units last fiscal as compared with 2.34 lakh units in 2021-22, Srivastava said.

So the growth was like 45-46 per cent and our total penetration went from 17 per cent to 20 per cent in FY23, he added.

"We now have 75 per cent market share in the CNG space (passenger vehicle segment) and going forward our sales projection for this fiscal is over 4.5 lakh units," Srivastava noted.

MSI currently sells 14 company models with a CNG option.

When asked if the company aims to expand the model range further, Srivastava said: "We are looking very closely at the market because if there is a downward revision of the prices going ahead then we can see even larger traction compared to what we have seen last year." The company is watching the market closely and if required would study if CNG technology could be introduced in other models as well, he added.

On the company's plans regarding the electric segment, Srivastava said the company plans to have six battery electric vehicles in its portfolio by 2030.

The six models would account roughly for 15 per cent of the company's overall product range.

MSI plans to drive its first battery electric vehicle in the next financial year, Srivastava noted. "In 2030, the overall portfolio of the company will look something like..60 per cent will be CNG and internal combustion engine vehicles, 25 per cent would be hybrid and 15 per cent will be electric," he said.