Small cars are no longer the bread and butter business for Maruti Suzuki. The company launched a slew of new SUV models over the past two years and captured 23% market share in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment in India. Brezza, Ertiga, Fronx, Grand Vitara, Invicto, Jimny, S-Cross, XL6 are the major Maruti Suzuki SUVs and UVs. The SUV segment constituted 42% of total domestic wholesale volumes in December 2023. The SUV segment is on a robust growth path for Maruti Suzuki. The company is expected to launch two new SUV models in the near future. According to the management, the share of SUVs increased to about 50%, which was about 43% during last financial year in the Indian passenger car segment. Together with MUV, the share of UV in the industry is around 60%.
Maruti Suzuki exports to treble by 2023
Maruti Suzuki exported around 69,000 units in Q2FY24 and is the largest exporter of passenger vehicles from India. SUV models, such as Grand Vitara and Fronx are also contributing to growth of export volumes. Maruti Suzuki’s latest addition to the SUV export product portfolio is Jimny 5-door SUV. Jimny will be shipped to destinations in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa region. Maruti Suzuki plans a 3-fold increase in its exports volume to 750,000-800,000 units per year by 2030. Higher focus on exports is given due to higher average selling price (ASP) for export business compared to domestic business. Maruti Suzuki’s main focus continues to be on Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and even the Middle East.
Stable demand outlook, Small car facing affordability issues
Coming to the domestic market, the demand outlook is strong and stable. Speaking on geographic demand trends, Rahul Bharti, Chief Investor Relations Officer and Executive Officer, Corporate Planning at Maruti Suzuki said, “The central zone of the country, for example, Delhi, NCR, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh is doing fine. Even south India is doing fine. East India has some weakness.” He further added that the industry growth rate is 5% and Maruti Suzuki will grow faster at 10%. Rural India growth is also higher than urban India growth and continues to be healthy.
The small car segment is witnessing lower demand as customers face affordability issues. Speaking on the small car segment, Bharti said, “The cost has gone up disproportionately because of the increased regulatory intensity you have seen in the past few years. And the income of the customer in this segment has not taken off.” The management is optimistic that sooner or later income levels will catch up leading to revival of the small car segment. While consumer upgrading to the mid-size or SUV segment might be another reason, the proportion of first-time buyers have decreased by almost 10%. For the industry as a whole small cars which used to be 34% of total industry mix, now stands at 28%. Optimistic on small car segment growth, Bharti said, “We are hoping, that when the income growth in this segment of the population catches up with the increased cost, and the regulatory intensity does not move up further in the next few years, at some point in time, this segment should come back.” Only 3% of the Indian population owns a car. While SUVs are doing well for Maruti Suzuki and industry as a whole, small cars need to bounce back to increase car ownership penetration in India.
