India’s passenger vehicle market leader Maruti Suzuki has achieved the cumulative sales milestone of 25 million cars and SUVs, becoming the first Indian automaker to notch this record. January 9, 2023 was the red-letter day when the carmaker surpassed the milestone.
The 25-million sales milestone comes 40 years after Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan signed a joint venture agreement with Maruti Udyog, the predecessor of Maruti Suzuki in 1982 and rolled out its first car – the Maruti 800 – in December 1983. Since then, Maruti Suzuki India has expanded its product portfolio and rolled out a number of products including high-selling cars like the Alto, Wagon R and Swift hatchbacks.
The 25-million units sales milestone comes a little over two months after Maruti Suzuki India achieved cumulative production of over 25 million units on November 2, 2022, making it the the only Indian company to have achieved this significant milestone in passenger vehicle production.
Maruti Suzuki India began its operations in 1983 and rolled out the car which put India on wheels – the Maruti 800 – from its first production facility in Gurugram, Haryana. Along with the Manesar plant, it now has a combined manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million units per annum.
The company, which began its operations in 1983 and rolled out the car which put India on wheels – the Maruti 800 – from its first production facility in Gurugram, Haryana today has two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, located in Gurugram and Manesar in Haryana. Both the facilities together have a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million units per annum.
Maruti Suzuki’s sales over 25 years also reflect the growth of the Indian car market. While the company took 23 years from start of production to cross the 5 million sales milestone in February 2006, the next 5 million units took six years. Number accelerated even more later on with the run from 10 million to 20 million units taking seven years. The last 5 million units have taken just four years, with the 25-million mark being surpassed earlier this month.
At present, the company produces and markets 17 models in India and is strengthening its portfolio while also making efforts to popularise hybrid and CNG models. Maruti Suzuki has, till now, clocked cumulative sales of hybrid and CNG models of approximately 2.1 million units.
Further, with continued extended sales and service network in India with over 3,500 new car sales outlets, Maruti Suzuki will establish a network that the customers continue to choose.
Maruti Suzuki will continue to provide products marked with safety, high reliability, and eco-friendliness, and contribute to sustainable development of the automobile industry.
Clocks over 1.5 million sales in CY2022
In CY2022, Maruti Suzuki sold over 1.5 million units to record 15% YoY growth. The bulk of its growth came from its compact models – the Baleno, Swift, Wagon R, Celerio, Ignis, Dzire (and Tour S) – which with 869,040 units accounted for 55% of its sales in CY2022 compared to 52% in CY2021. Its UVs with 337,157 units contributed 21% to total sales last year, the same as in CY2021.
Its entry level models – the Alto and S-Presso – with 227,824 units contributed 14.45% to PV sales in 2022 but flagging demand in this mass-market segment meant that this was a decline over the 17% in 2021.
The carmaker, which has a pending order backlog of an estimated 350,000 units, would have fared better had production not been impacted at different times during the year due to the semiconductor supply chain issue.
In pitched battle for UV leadership in FY2023
In the ongoing fiscal year 2023, Maruti Suzuki, the overall PV market leader, which had the No. 2 UV position in Q1 FY2023 behind Tata Motors, is now in second place albeit by a small margin of 8,398 units.
Despite being impacted by semiconductor supply chain issues which have curtailed production, Maruti Suzuki has done well to sell 260,172 UVs in April-December 2022 (up 22%). However, its pace of growth is slower than both Tata and Mahindra & Mahindra, both of whom also have plenty more UV models. This means its UV share is down to 17.70% from 20.62% a year ago.
However, the company can be expected to claw back UV market share with its recently launched new Grand Vitara along with sustained demand for the new Brezza (the best-selling UV in September 2022) and the Ertiga, both of which are regulars in the Top 10 UVs list.
Plugging into EVs
Even as it revs up plans for increasing its overall PV and UV market share in India, Maruti Suzuki is also making moves towards its electric vehicle debut. On January 11, 2023, at the Auto Expo, the carmaker had the global premiere of its Concept Electric SUV eVX.
Built on an all-new dedicated EV platform, the eVX will be powered by a 60kWh battery pack offering up to 550km of driving range.
Designed and developed by Suzuki Motor Corporation, the Concept eVX is a midsize electric SUV concept slated to roll out in production form in FY2024. Built on an all-new dedicated EV platform, the eVX will be powered by a 60kWh battery pack offering up to 550km of driving range.
That’s not all. Maruti Suzuki’s EV story will assume greater traction in the years to come. Earlier this month, Suzuki Motor Corp revealed its strategy to launch six EVs in India by 2030 and expects EVs and Hybrids to account for 40% of its total sales
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