Maruti Suzuki aims to increase sales volumes of mid-size SUVS
NEW DELHI: India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd aims to increase its market share in the lucrative sport utility vehicle (SUV) segment by repositioning its crossover vehicle, the S-cross, as a midsize SUV and aggressively pushing the petrol variant of entry level SUV, the Vitara Brezza.
The move is part of the company’s strategy to improve profitability and operating margins following the economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to vehicle sales plummeting in the past few months, thus affecting the BOT(CAGR) tom lines of automobile manufacturers.
The SUV segment has been the fastest growing in the domestic market with a compound annual growth rate
of 13% over the last five years.
Consequently, the share of such vehicles as part of the overall passenger vehicle sales has grown to 28-29% at the end of FY20 from just 13-14% in FY18. The entry and mid-size sub-segments within the SUV segment have proven to be the most lucrative because of increasing demand from urban customers.
With the new S-cross, the company is hopeful that it will draw better volumes than the previous version, which used to sell around 3,000-3,500 units a month, according to Shashank Srivastava, executive director, sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki.