Nexa, the premium car brand of Maruti Suzuki, was the fastest growing car retail brand in India in 2023, growing by over 50% in a market that has witnessed moderation in growth rate to 8 percent.
Led by its new range of SUVs, Nexa channel crossed sales of over half-a-million units in 2023 for the first time ever, with new launches like the Fronx, Jimny and Grand Vitara giving Maruti Suzuki incremental sales of about 25,000 units per month.
This also helped the country’s largest car maker to grab the SUV leadership in the first half of FY2024 and almost double its SUV market share to 22 percent.
Nexa sales of 509,290 units in CY2023 are up 53% on CY2022’s 332,361 units while total sales since CY202q5 have cross 2.4 million units.
Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Sales and Marketing at Maruti Suzuki said: “With the enhanced portfolio of UVs like the Grand Vitara, Fronx , Jimny and the Invicto, Nexa not only helped Maruti Suzuki address new customer profile but also was instrumental in doubling the market share in SUVs for Maruti Suzuki. In fact, in H1 of the current financial year, Maruti became the No. 1 SUV manufacturer “
Nexa network closing in on 500 outlets across India
In a span of just eight years, Nexa outlets have been expanded to 293 cities with about 478 outlets. Designed to cater to the aspiring Indian population who are keen to upgrade but do not want to give up on the core of value buying, Maruti Suzuki used Nexa to position itself as a value luxury brand that has got a strong reception in the marketplace.
Srivastava claims that these outlets cover 82% of the retail market in industry and 95% of industry wholesales. Along with the expansion of the network, the broadening of the portfolio has been the pivotal factor behind the steep growth.
The models available at Nexa outlets have almost doubled in the last few years and it has been largely SUVs priced over Rs 10 lakh. Not surprising that the company has also been able to grab leadership in the upgraders space too – the Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh segment with a share of over 22 percent.
The average price points in the marketplace for the majority of vehicles sold in India has crossed Rs 10 lakh due to increased costs in meeting the new safety and emission regulations and also the inflationary spikes in commodity prices.
During the year, the company launched its most expensive vehicle – the Invicto MPV – priced over Rs 25 lakh sourced from its global alliance partner Toyota in India. That model was only available in the strong hybrid option, and it was received very well in the marketplace, with the model still having a waiting period of over six months.
The real impact of new models was only visible after June 2023 once the semiconductor supplies improved. In fact, for several months, Nexa sales were higher than Hyundai Motor India’s sales. Maruti Suzuki has now outlined an ambitious target of making Nexa the second biggest automotive brand in the country.
In 2023, Nexa was the fourth biggest car retailer – after Arena (mainstream Maruti channel), Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors, but it outsold Mahindra & Mahindra in terms of volumes.
On an average sale over the last six months, Nexa has been doing more retails than Tata Motors and with more models in the future like the three-row SUV hitting the roads in 2025, Maruti Suzuki is likely to see further upside on the volumes front.
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