As part of its strategy to push alternative fuels on the path to reducing carbon footprint, Maruti Suzuki is looking to sell over 6 lakh CNG vehicles in FY-25.
The market leader is aiming to sell as many CNG vehicles this financial year as the rest of the market sold in FY-24.
If the company attains its target, then it would register a growth of over 30% in volumes of CNG vehicles from 4.5 lakh units sales in FY-24.
Speaking to media persons post Q4 FY-, R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki will continue to push on CNG sales across the value chain.
Apart from selling more CNG cars on road, the company is also looking at utilizing gas to generate electricity to run its manufacturing facilities.
The CNG vehicle market crossed half a million units for the first time ever in FY-24 – predominantly driven by the market leader.
The share of CNG in the overall market increased from 10% in FY-23 to about 15% in FY-24 and for Maruti Suzuki one in every four cars sold last year was with a CNG powertrain.
The overall market for CNG closed at 6.24 lakh vehicles in FY-24, with the segment registering a growth of 15 %. Maruti Suzuki continued to drive the penetration registering a growth of over 50% to sales to 4.55 lakh units.
The company had the widest product portfolio of over dozen CNG vehicles right from Alto hatchback to Grand Vitara SUV starting at a price point of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 18 lakh. It enjoys over 73% of the total CNG market.
The addition of new products from the likes of Tata Motors and Hyundai Motor India over the last few years and the fast-growing gas city gas distribution in the country is driving penetration of CNG vehicles have also supported this shift.
The government of India had set a target of setting up 10,000 CNG stations by 2030.
Thanks to the higher share of CNG and hybrid vehicles, Maruti Suzuki has the lowest Co2 footprint per car in the country and the company has met its CAFÉ 2 or Corporate Average Fuel Economy targets by a significant margin without a single electric vehicle.