Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) plans to guard and improve its market share within the non-SUV area whereas increasing presence within the SUV section, the place it has been lagging behind the competitors, as a part of a twin-pronged technique to safeguard its place within the auto sector, as per a senior firm official.
The firm at present has a market share of 67 per cent within the non-SUV area, its highest in 20 years, however lacks muscle within the fast-growing SUV section with general market share hovering round 13 per cent.
“The objective seems to be clear, we need to protect and enhance market share in the non-SUV segment while capturing more of SUV (share)..it is very simple, clear and quite obvious goal,” MSI Senior Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) Shashank Srivastava informed PTI in an interplay.
In the SUV section, the corporate plans to launch new fashions, whereas within the non-SUV area comprising hatchbacks, sedans and vans, it goals to usher in new options, expertise and aggressive design language, he added.
Asked if the corporate would additionally take a look at bringing a model new entry-level automobile, he mentioned: “It is a possibility but we have to finalise our plan..we will do anything to protect our market share.” In the SUV area, MSI is already within the means of taking a slew of measures, together with back-to-back product launches to cater to a spread of consumers throughout varied rising sub-segments.Srivastava famous that the corporate simply has two fashions within the general SUV section which at present has round 48 merchandise.”The actual weak point appears to be within the mid-SUV section the place our market share is simply round 3 per cent,” he added.
The mid-size SUV section is dominated by fashions like Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos.The firm can also be focusing on to as soon as once more go previous the 50 per cent mark within the home passenger autos section.
Maruti Suzuki ended the final fiscal at round 43 per cent market share.Srivastava mentioned the corporate, which has simply launched a brand new model of its compact SUV Brezza, is now gearing as much as launch a mid-sized mannequin later this month to strongly problem the rivals.In order to prune the deadwood, MSI has additionally determined to discontinue the S-Cross from the road up and plans to give attention to the brand new mannequin which goes to be produced by Toyota and have each delicate and powerful hybrid expertise, he said.
“We will unveil a pure SUV shortly. It is a 4.3-metre car…if you look at the dimensions, our car would be bigger, wider and spacious (than Hyundai Creta),” Srivastava mentioned.
The mannequin would include two powertrains that includes delicate hybrid expertise developed by Suzuki and a powerful hybrid system from Toyota.”Production will begin in August on the Toyota plant in Bidadi, Karnataka and we hope to start out promoting it someday within the upcoming festive season,” Srivastava mentioned.
He famous that the mannequin could possibly be a sport changer because it doesn’t require exterior charging infrastructure and the consumers additionally don’t face vary anxiousness points. Besides, the worth of the automobile is not going to be as excessive as a pure battery electrical automobile.Asked about S-Cross, he said the mannequin makes “no business sense” with low volumes and thus can be discontinued.”The mid SUV section has grown and now could be the third after the entry SUV and premium hatch.
So presence is critical right here and we now have S-Cross which isn’t giving us volumes,” he famous.Elaborating on the entry-level SUV section, the place it sells Brezza, Srivastava mentioned the vertical has turn into the biggest in your complete passenger automobile area, overtaking premium hatchbacks which dominated the market since 2011.
“Out of 30.68 lakh volumes last year, the entry SUVs’ share stood at 6.52 lakh units. When Brezza was initially launched in 2016, the segment volume stood at around 1.29 lakh units,” he mentioned.
Srivastava famous that regardless of varied firms coming into the area, solely 4 fashions — Nexon, Brezza, Venue and Sonet — had been promoting over a lakh models each year.He identified that there was a outstanding shift from diesel to petrol automobiles within the compact SUV section.”In 2015-16, diesel was once 87 per cent of the market…Last yr this determine was 80 per cent petrol and roughly 20 per cent diesel,” Srivastava mentioned.He additional mentioned the Brezza has been a market chief within the final 5 years and it was solely within the final monetary yr that it offered lower than Tata Nexon.”
The new model of Brezza ought to give us better quantity and undoubtedly we’re trying ahead in direction of extra market share…,” he mentioned, including that the compact SUV has already acquired over 50,000 bookings.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”