Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) will preserve consolidating its present product line-up, together with hatchbacks, whereas bolstering presence within the quick rising SUV phase to energy its means again to 50 per cent market share within the home passenger car market, as per a senior firm official.
The nation’s largest carmaker, which has seen its market share drop to 43.38 per cent in FY22 from 47.7 per cent in FY21, goals to herald a number of SUV merchandise with deal with new applied sciences like hybrid powertrains with a view to improve gasoline effectivity, making them comparable or higher than diesel-powered fashions which can be presently being bought available in the market, particularly by its Korean rivals.
With no intention of creating a comeback within the diesel phase, MSI can be specializing in rising its play within the CNG phase to herald extra volumes.
The firm had a market share of 51.22 per cent in 2018-19 and 51.03 per cent in 2019-20.
In an interplay with PTI right here, MSI Senior Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) Shashank Srivastava famous that the corporate will pull out all thew stops to achieve again the misplaced market share.
“It’s a war cry..it is there in our organisation..it is like constructive paranoia…which means you cannot rest easy.. it doesn’t take much time for the market dynamics to change, so we are always on our toes as how to improve efficiency, productivity etc,” he famous when requested concerning the firm’s pondering on regaining the 50 per cent market share.
Srivastava mentioned that within the non-SUV phase, the corporate’s market share was at 67 per cent degree, with management positions in each hatchback and MPV segments.
He acknowledged that lack of merchandise within the quick rising SUV phase had impacted its total market share.
Elaborating on the phase dynamics, Srivastava famous that whereas the corporate led the entry-level SUV phase with Brezza, it was solely within the robustly rising mid-SUV phase the place it lagged behind the competitors with tepid response for S-Cross.
“So, overall our market share in the SUV vertical is just 12 per cent. This is where we are now making efforts to bolster our presence,” Srivastava mentioned.
He famous that whereas the corporate struggled with sub par efficiency within the phase, a few of the competing firms had been getting as a lot as 60 per cent of their gross sales from SUVs.
When requested if the shortage of diesel powertrain choice is also part of low offtake within the vertical, with opponents already providing their merchandise with each petrol and diesel powertrains, Srivastava replied within the detrimental.
He identified that the share of diesel automobiles has come down drastically to about 18 per cent from the highs of 58 per cent a couple of years in the past.
“In the hatchbacks it is less than 0.5 per cent, in sedans it is about 1.5 per cent, in MPVs it has come down to 20 per cent, so overall it is 18 per cent, which is coming from the mid-sized SUVs. In this segment we believe there is acceptance for diesel as it lacks a good petrol-powered vehicle,” Srivastava mentioned.
Citing the instance of Brezza, he famous that within the entry-level SUV phase the share of diesel trims was within the vary of 88 per cent which has now come all the way down to about 20 per cent.
“We discontinued the diesel and brought Brezza with 1.5 litre petrol ..this suddenly changed the dynamics and 88 per cent became 20 per cent..we believe this will happen in mid-SUV as well..,” Srivastava said.
He famous that within the hatchback phase it was a transparent chief with a dominant market share of 70 per cent whereas within the MPV phase additionally, it was means forward with its market share rising from 35 per cent in 2019 to 61 per cent final fiscal.
When requested particularly concerning the entry-level hatchback phase, Srivastava famous that out of the overall 16-17 hatchbacks within the business, seven belonged to MSI.
He famous that the corporate would preserve rejuvenating the merchandise within the phase in future as properly with it nonetheless being the most important quantity generator for the auto main.
Srivastava additionally hinted that the corporate might herald fashions, relying on the phase, with robust hybrid powertrains.
“It is possible. While I cannot comment on what we are actually doing, it is a very logical thing,” he said when requested if MSI merchandise may see a transition from gentle hybrid methods to robust hybrid applied sciences.
Srivastava mentioned that affordability was an enormous problem and there was a value concerned with the robust hybrid expertise.
“So we have to be very careful which direction we have to go,” he famous.
Srivastava famous that transition from hybrid expertise, which options each inside combustion engine and battery, to pure battery electrical automobiles may very well be a greater choice for India which presently lacked charging infrastructure.
“There is a consensus in the industry that EVs will become mainstream going forward. However, there is no consensus when it is going to happen….analysts are saying that by 2030, 10-12 per cent of the sales will be EVs..you can’t wait for it to become 100 per cent to take care of the environment..so what happens..one of course is to make engines more efficient and the other thing is to have hybrid which is cheaper to acquire than EVs..and that is the transition we are talking about..that could well be the road to electric,” he said.
Srivastava mentioned the deal with hybrid expertise may additionally assist in decreasing the price of native manufacturing of a number of EV elements.
“If you want to bring down the cost of EVs in India, you need to have localisation. There is some similarity in the components used in the strong hybrids as well as EVs. So if you have a larger volume, localisation can improve, ” he mentioned.
The downside with EVs proper now could be that the volumes are low with gross sales of simply round 16,000 models final 12 months, accounting for simply 5 per cent of the general passenger car gross sales, Srivastava mentioned whereas hoping for some push for the phase, like EVs, from policymakers.
MSI plans to launch a number of EVs, with the primary one anticipated to hit the market in 2025.