Maruti Suzuki to introduce 1st EV in FY25

Hyderabad Indian automobile maker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited on Friday said it will be entering the electric passenger vehicle market by launching its first electric vehicle in the fiscal year 2024 -25. With current focus on hybrid cars, MSIL sells over 5,500 vehicles every month in the Hyderabad market alone. Looking to uplift its position from top three car sellers to being numero uno in the city, MSIL is extensively expanding its footprint. In this direction, MSIL opened its 3,500th sales outlet in Hyderabad, with Varun Motors Private Limited as the dealer partner.

"The path towards EV is through Hybrid, however currently the market is not ripe to introduce EV cars," Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, MSIL said. The official expects the cost of acquiring batteries and its charging infrastructure to turn robust in the coming years. "MSIL plans to introduce its first electric car in the coming two years. The set back we see right now is high cost in acquisition of materials and absence of extensive presence of charging stations. We expect the EV market to grow further, as per industry predictions."

Currently, EV stands at 1.1 per cent penetration in the overall passenger vehicle segment; wherein, in the total six million passenger vehicle's, one million is EV. And, the projected growth for EV's, by 2030, is expected to reach 15 – 17 per cent, Srivastava informed.

Coming to expansion of presence through dealer outlets, the official said that MSIL plans to add another 250 sales outlets across India, by next financial year, depending upon the performance of sales volume. While Delhi NCR and Bangalore are the company's top market, Hyderabad places third, with 5,500 Maruti Suzuki cars sold every month here, from the 13,500 total cars (all brands) sold in this city.

The automobile manufacturer known for Alto, its highest selling small car, holds 65 per cent of the market share in the non-SUV segment. In the overall market, including SUVs its share is 42 per cent, wherein 14.5 per cent is contributed by Maruti's SUV cars. Srivastava informed that MSIL is looking to reach 50 per cent, in the overall market share, over next two years. For which the company has lined up two new sports utility vehicle (SUV) launches for the current financial year.

Giving industry insights, Srivastava said that the automobile industry witnessed healthy growth in 2022. From April – October, around 22.75 lakh vehicles were sold, compared to 16.48 lakh in the corresponding period last year. Wherein, MSIL alone saw 9.57 lakh sales (till date) in current FY, compared to 7.18 lakh, last year.