Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara celebrated its first anniversary along with a grand achievement of being the fastest midsize SUV to sell over 1 lakh units. The SUV’s achievement also marks a new milestone for Maruti Suzuki itself, since the brand is now this financial year’s leader in the SUV segment in India with a 22% market share.
Considering last year there were some production issues as a result of semiconductor shortage, The Grand Vitara’s success will seem truly remarkable, even more than the sales numbers. This makes you wonder what would have happened, had there been an abundant and constant supply of semiconductors maybe the results were something else.
Nevertheless, only months after its launch, Grand Vitara hit the 10,000/month mark in March while it sold 11,818 units last month.
Hybrid is one of the factors in Grand Vitara’s success
Currently, Hybrids make up about 1.7% of the automobile industry and so out of the total sales of Grand Vitara, 22% are strong-hybrid, while 14% are CNG. The percentage is quite good considering Hybrid models are limited in sale compared to EVs.
Part of the credit for the Grand Vitara’s success can be given to the strong-hybrid powerplant it borrows from Toyota and also the CNG and mild-hybrid options.
Other contributors to Maruti Suzuki’s success
Keeping the Grand Vitara aside, other models like the Jimny and the new Baleno-based Fronx have been the key players in boosting the brand’s sales figures, while the MVP goes to Brezza which has always been the volume seller. What became an obstacle was the failure of the S-cross, but still made the company the 4th largest SUV maker in India.
Considering Maruti Suzuki achieved the leading spot with just 4 SUVs in their portfolio is an amazing feat. Also, earlier Maruti Suzuki cars used to fail whenever they sold cars at a premium price due to their brand image, but now the brand has led in the Rs 10 – 20 lakh segments with a market share of 23%.
What really made the cars so successful are their reliability, high mileage despite being premium and the huge number of features you get for the price. Also, the recent Maruti models are made of stronger chassis, so it also shows the brand’s commitment to removing the tag of “tin cans” from their cars.
Also, despite being perceived as an affordable brand, Maruti Suzuki’s NEXA outlets also played a vital role in putting the company at the 2nd number in the country with a 15% share of the overall sales.
Maruti Suzuki’s future plans
The company now has plans to expand its fleet with several models including SUVs, MPVs, EVs and hatchbacks. The brand wasn’t seemingly interested in the EV space, but now it wants to be a significant player in the EV market. A midsize EV SUV called eVX is expected to launch by FY25 and will be Maruti Suzuki’s first all-electric SUV.
Apart from that, the brand also plans to bring a couple of more models such as the 7-seater Grand Vitara.
In case you want to buy a new Maruti Suzuki SUV, check out the list of upcoming SUVs by Maruti Suzuki, and decide whether to wait or go ahead and select from the current portfolio, which has a great line-up of cars.
