Maruti Suzuki recently became the leading SUV carmaker too. The brand has also been updating its SUV lineup by adding 3 vehicles in the last 1 year and they are now focusing more on this segment for future growth. In a country where more than 43% of the market share is dominated by the SUV segment and growing day by day, it is a welcoming move indeed by the urban people who seem to have grown fond of these high-riding machines. However, Maruti’s rural market is still carried by its non-SUV models.
Maruti sold 2.21 lakh sedans, hatches and MPVs while the SUV had much lower sales of 81,500 units from April to October. When compared to last year, there’s a growth of 8% in urban areas, while in the rural areas, the growth is higher at 11%. Maruti Suzuki Swift is the highest-selling model.
Factors behind Maruti’s Non-SUVs success in the rural market
Now there’s a reason why the demand for non-SUVs in rural areas is higher while the rest of the country is buying SUVs. There are actually a few factors that possibly play a key role. Firstly, Maruti Suzuki themselves stated that the higher cost of entry-level cars affects the conversion rate of first-time buyers. Along with that, there are not really any diesel options in Maruti’s SUV space while most of the other rival companies do have diesel SUVs but they are on the premium end. So, that could be another reason why people prefer hatchbacks, MPVs and sedans in rural markets.
However, this whole scenario will likely change since Maruti’s small car share in rural space fell by 5% in the early parts of this financial year with a drop from 48% to 43%. With diesel cars set to become more expensive to change in emission norms, Maruti Suzuki might just be better off investing in CNG, Petrol and Hybrid cars. But all these are of less importance right now since Maruti Suzuki has over 2 lakhs pending orders.
Well, these numbers are only a testament to what a large and successful car company Maruti Suzuki is in India, and it took them a lot of time and hard work to reach this level. If you are interested in learning more about India’s largest carmaker in India, check it out here.
