New Delhi The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Limited expects the small or entry-level car market to continue to be a major part of the domestic market and be a strong bet for the company despite declining sales of such vehicles.
Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava said in an interview that the automaker will play a major role in 5 lakh car segment in the coming years, even though its rivals may vacate the market where volume as a percentage of total auto sector volume has halved in the last three years.
While a total of nine new SUV models are expected to be introduced this calendar year, not a single launch of a new small car model is planned, except for two refreshes, including Maruti’s Alto K10 at the starting dealership price. 3.99 lakhs.
However, Bhargava termed the slowdown in the entry-level car segment as temporary.
“I believe this slowdown in the small car market is a temporary phenomenon. I believe this market cannot be held down in the long term – it has to grow, otherwise India will not grow. And for it to grow What will happen is that the per capita income will have to be increased, and maybe somehow, the prices will have to come down. But there is no way that the country can ignore this sizable market and not pass them the benefits of development in the country.”
He said the small car segment has suffered huge losses due to rising prices, affecting the affordability of the customers.
“In the last three years, the lower end of the market has been hit the most as the percentage increase in the price of cars has been maximum at that level. downstairs cars 5 lakh is almost halved in terms of percentage share in the total market. It’s not because the customers aren’t there. About 230 million scooter customers are pretty much out there. It sources less than five lakh car customers. But due to the increase in the price, that section of the market has not been able to buy even five lakh cars. So the market is shrinking in terms of aggregate volume.”
Hatchbacks make up about 38% of the passenger vehicle market in terms of sales volume, with SUVs recently capturing 40% of the share as the largest PV segment.
Maruti is also gearing up to regain the market share it has lost due to lack of a competitive portfolio in the SUV segment, with three new SUV launches this calendar year and the next.
Toyota Motor, its joint product offering with the Grand Vitara will go on sale in September and already has an order book of over 30,000 vehicles.
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