Greater Noida, January 12

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on Thursday said that with its new launch of sports utility vehicles (SUVs), it aims to be the No.1 SUV maker in the next financial and grab 45 per cent market share for passenger vehicles, from a little over 42 per cent right now.

“That (45 per cent market share) has more reality and possible... I had also mentioned that our medium-term goal was to get back 50 per cent market share in the total passenger vehicle market and secure the number one position in the SUV segment. We all are trying and we should be outpacing the market,” Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MSIL, told reporters on the sidelines of the Auto Expo here.

The SUV market is the most competitive segment in India with Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors, among others, fighting neck-to-neck with MSIL. The SUV market grew over 35 per cent in calendar year 2022 to 15,91,304 units, as compared with 11,74,807 units in 2021.

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MSIL’s SUV line-up includes Brezza, XL6 and Grand Vitara, and it unveiled two more SUVs on Thursday —Jimny and Fronx — which would be launched middle of this calendar year.

Takeuchi said the company will also use its plants optimally, including the Suzuki Gujarat plant currently running to full capacity.

“The Suzuki Gujarat plants are running on full capacity right now and, in addition to that, we are planning to increase the capacity of Manesar plant by one-lakh units per annum. Our new plant in Kharkhoda (Haryana) will also be producing cars (from 2025) and we are getting volumes of Grand Vitara from Toyota-Suzuki cooperation, so that will increase our total production capacity,” he said.

On the company’s order backlog, he said it currently stood at around 3.2 lakh vehicles, which was an improvement from around four-lakh units three months ago.