Maruti Suzuki to focus on SUVs to regain 50 per cent domestic market share

NEW DELHI:  India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) had plans to launch more sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to recover its lost market share in the domestic market. The carmaker admitted that a delay in launching SUVs dented its market share which came down from over 50% a few years back to about 41% now.  

“The main reason why we couldn’t sustain our market share was a delay in launching SUVs from our end. We are in the process of taking corrective action and hope to recover our market share,” Toshihiro Suzuki, Representative Director and President, of Suzuki Motor Corporation said. He added that the company would launch its new SUV on Thursday at the Auto Expo.

In recent months, MSIL launched the updated compact Brezza SUV and mid-size Grand Vitara in collaboration with Toyota. The SUVs are in high demand and due to chip shortage there is a good waiting period for the two.  

Suzuki also said that India has the potential to become the number one automotive market in the world and small cars have an important role to play in it.

“I can see that there can be a time when India would be positioned as the number one market (of automobiles) in the world. Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki as a group would like to capture this opportunity. We would like to develop technology for providing the right mobility solutions to this market,” he said without giving a timeline for India to climb to the top.

India surpassed Japan last year to become the third largest automotive market, after China and the US, having sold over an estimated 42.5 lakh units.