Hisashi Takeuchi, Maruti Suzuki’s managing director, said the company now has the “weapon” to compete and expand its presence in the SUV segment, which will also help it to outperform the market next fiscal.
“Unlike the forecast for the industry, for us we still have a good chance of growth. That is because of several reasons,” said Takeuchi. “One is certainly because of the introduction of new products in the SUV segment. We now have a strong weapon to fight and will be able to get to the number one position in the category in FY24.”
Maruti Suzuki, which has a market share of 13.9% in the SUV segment, had introduced the all new Brezza and Grand Vitara last year. Both products have been received well by customers, with the company sitting on pending orders of 128,000 units for the vehicles.
The Fronx and the Jimny, which will go on sale in the next two to three months, is intended to strengthen the company’s presence in the entry-SUV space, which is now the largest segment in the Indian passenger vehicle industry.
As many as 643,000 entry-level SUVs were sold in the Indian market in the first nine months of the current fiscal, compared with 665,000 units for the full year 2022.
Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki, said, “When a segment grows large in size, sub-segments start emerging. There are two such sub-segments not catered to currently where we are positioning the Fronx and the Jimny.”While the Fronx has been designed and developed to meet the needs of young, urban, tech-savvy consumers, Jimny is a life-style product along the lines of Mahindra & Mahindra’s Thar. The Fronx will be manufactured by Suzuki Motor in Gujarat and Jimny in Gurgaon.
With nearly 42% of total sales of passenger vehicles in the Indian market coming from the SUVs segment, it is imperative for Maruti Suzuki to beef up its presence in the segment. SUVs account for about 10.8% of sales at Maruti Suzuki. The new models will help the carmaker regain market share of 50% mid-term, said Takeuchi.
At present, Tata Motors dominates the Indian SUV space with aggressive product and powertrain interventions over the last few years. In fact, more than two-thirds of Tata Motors’ sales in the PV segment in 2022 came from SUVs.
