‘Expect substantial surge in SUV market share this fiscal’

NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki expects substantial increase in its market share in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment this fiscal with the new Brezza and Grand Vitara receiving robust response, according to a senior company official.

The auto major also plans to introduce more models in the SUV segment in the remaining part of the financial year.

“In July we were at 7.1 per cent (market share) in the SUV segment...it increased to 10.8 per cent in August, 13.01 per cent in September and 14.4 per cent in October. So it is showing an increasing trend,” said Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer marketing & sales, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI).

He noted the market share would have increased further if the company had not faced supply issues with Brezza last month.

“I would not like to project a going forward figure but can safely say that we are expecting a good increase (in market share) this fiscal as we expect to launch a few more SUVs,” Srivastava said.

He noted that the gain would help it regain market share in the overall passenger vehicles segment.

“Strengthening SUV segment is an important part of our strategy to regain the overall market share which we lost due to non presence in the SUV segment,” Srivastava said.

MSI, which did not have a credible presence in the mid-size segment, had ended last fiscal with a market share of 10.9 per cent in the SUV space.

The company’s overall market share in the passenger vehicle space, which stood at 51 per cent in FY2019, has come down to 41 per cent in the September quarter this fiscal.

The auto maker had a market share of 51.22 per cent in 2018-19 and 51.03 per cent in 2019-20. Srivastava noted Brezza is already a market leader in the compact SUV segment and Grand Vitara is also expected to do well in the mid-sized SUV space.

“We hope to have a leadership position across the segments where we are represented now,” Srivastava added.

The sports utility vehicle space in the country is expected to touch 45 per cent of the overall passenger vehicle market by the end of this fiscal.

India’s overall passenger vehicle market is estimated at over 30 lakh units.

When asked if Jimny SUV could be one of the new product launches this fiscal for the company, he declined to comment.

“As a policy we cannot comment on the future product introduction,” Srivastava said.