Maruti Suzuki has been a really popular brand among automobile enthusiasts when it comes to buying a small budget but a good car with similar features to that of a big one.
The government has been trying to promote the use of Electronic Vehicles (EVs) as a replacement for petrol, and diesel vehicles so that it can lower its oil import and vehicle pollution.
Maruti Suzuki is the number one manufacturer of smallest cars in India and their sales are huge as well,
But will this government’s decision to focus on EVs affect Maruti?
Small cars are the cheapest option available to any customer and they still emerge as a viable option for many.
In a recent interview, CV Raman Chief Technology Officer (CTO) stated that “For safe, sustainable mobility, we are continuing to look at small cars as a choice,” he also went on to add “We need to have entry-level solutions for two-wheeler upgraders which are sustainable.”
There has been a rise in the sales of small cars but recently the sales of small cars fell down to 1.1million units in fiscal 2022 from a peak of 1.55million in FYI19
Several factors that can hold responsible for this are rising input costs, increased road tax but the government, and transition to higher emission and safety regulations
This prompted many small automobile manufacturers like Nissan, and Volkswagen to exit the small car market from the country. This segment only offers a dozen models compared with 29 in FYI19.
Anyways, the sales have started increasing in the last few months and totaled about 1.34 million units in the financial year that ended on March 31, 2023.
The share of small cars has been coming down in the past few years but in terms of absolute volumes, numbers are still huge. First-time buyers (most of whom buy small cars) account for 47-48% of vehicle sales in India, and this has been the trend for several years now. Given low vehicle maintenance and the lack of adequate public transport systems in our country, demand for cars be it new or pre-owned, is there at a very high level.
Shashank Srivastava, (senior executive director at Maruti Suzuki) said “adding that if income levels continue to go up and vehicles are provided at affordable costs, there is a massive potential for growth.”
Tarun Garg who is the chief operating officer (sales, marketing, service, and product strategy) at Hyundai Motor India said CNG-driven vehicles are a good option to extend mobility at an affordable cost to customers at the entry level. “CNG holds value, especially at the entry level,” Garg said in a recent interaction. “With the number of (CNG) dispensing stations going up within cities, as well as geographically, it is emerging as a viable and affordable option for consumers in the mass segment.”
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