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Maruti Suzuki India Limited expects SUV models to eat into their respective market shares

Company, looking for 25 per cent market share in SUVs by end of this year, acknowledges that there will be cannibalisation from its own competing products in segment

Anasuya Basu Calcutta Published 29.05.23, 04:44 AM
Representational image

Representational image

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) expects its SUV models to eat into their respective market shares.

The company, which is looking for a 25 per cent market share in SUVs by the end of this year, acknowledges that there will be cannibalisation from its own competing products in the segment.

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The company, which has been a mass market player so far, is shifting its focus to the SUV segment which has nearly 50 per cent of the passenger vehicle market.

Augmenting its SUV portfolio, India's No. 1 car maker will launch the Jimny in June as a lifestyle product, the Brezza as a compact SUV, the newly launched Fronx as a crossover and the Grand Vitara, a mid-sized SUV.

The company will also launch a premium SUV, the crossbadged Toyota Hycross during the festive season this year. It looks to capture 50 per cent of the overall market share in passenger vehicles.

In April, MSIL sold 8,800 units of the newly launched Fronx, 7,750 units of the Grand Vitara and 12,000 units of the Brezza. The total number of SUVs sold stood at 28,400 units.

Maruti Suzuki India senior executive officer (sales and marketing) Shashank Srivastava expects the volumes to come from the Brezza, Fronx, and Grand Vitara while the Jimny will cater to a more niched segment — those who want a lifestyle SUV.

Asked if some level of cannibalisation will happen, he said: “The field is crowded, some degree of cannibalisation will happen. But we are addressing different consumer types with our different offerings and there is also a price overlap. While the Brezza is our compact SUV, the Jimny is for customers who like to offroad. It is also good for urban conditions, particularly for Mumbai roads during monsoon or where road conditions are not good.”

The Fronx, he added was for urban, tech-oriented customers while the Grand Vitara is the larger SUV with a high driver’s seat, higher ground clearance and good fuel efficiency with a strong hybrid option.

Talking about the bookings, Jimny has already garnered 30,000 bookings, said Srivastava.

Asked about the chip shortage, Srivastava said: “The shortage will continue till June this year. We are planning our production schedule so that customers do not have to wait fo their deliveries.”

While MSIL is ramping up its production capacity and plans to sell 30 lakh units by 2030, the company is projecting that 52 to 53 per cent of its sales will come from SUVs in another seven years.

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