Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), the country's largest passenger car maker, is aligning its marketing strategies to concentrate on utility vehicles and saloons, in order to sustain its market dominance. The move may have been steered by the company's first Multi Utility Vehicle (MUV) Ertiga's immense popularity and demand among the Indian MUV enthusiasts.
The auto major will also revamp its largest selling mid-size saloon SX4 next year along with the assembling of its premium Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) Grand Vitara in India from 2014. The move will substantially bring down the prices of Grand Vitara which is currently available in India as a Completely Build Unit (CBU) and will hurl the SUV against Mahindra XUV500 and Skoda Yeti.
Reportedly, MSIL is also considering the possibility of launching the company's first vehicle in the compact SUV/crossover segment in Indian automotive market based on the lines of SX4 sedan.
The company will also launch a new compact SUV based on the XA Alpha concept which was unveiled by MSIL at the 2012 Auto Expo held in New Delhi. The new XA Alpha concept will be pitched directly against Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster.
The Indian passenger market is mostly dominated by the sales of hatchback cars with the utility vehicles contributing a fraction of 15-17 per cent to the the overall sales. MSIL's standalone car sales are propelled by its compact cars with no prominent presence in the utility vehicle segment except the sales of few Gypsy units.
However, the company's latest offering, the MUV Ertiga, became an instant hit and a crowd puller. After Ertiga's launch, the company's sales in the segment boosted to 7 per cent during the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal against the 1 per cent in the corresponding period last year. During the period April-June this year, MSIL sold 18,960 units of its utility vehicle fleet comprising Gypsy and Ertiga against the 1,491 vehicles in the corresponding period last year. Ertiga's cumulative sales since its launch in April, 2012 happened to be over 20,000 units.
MSIL's market share plunged by 5 per cent since last year and is currently standing at about 38 per cent. Sluggish sales, heavy competition in the Indian auto market along with the strikes and in-operation of its Manesar based facility are cited as the reasons for the company's piling problems. The company is aiming to restore its public friendly image that has been left in tatters after the Manesar incident. The strikes and lockout of the plant costed MSIL a loss of over Rs. 1,500 crore in revenue and output loss of about 30,000 vehicles.
