Maruti Suzuki is considering a bigger premium SUV: MD Hisashi Takeuchi

As more and more Indian car buyers latch on to the premiumisation trend, the country biggest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd , is also considering a bigger premium sport utility vehicle (SUV), according to its managing director and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi.

“There is some trend of premiumisation in the Indian market. We are selling mid-size SUVs. The market for over 4.5-metre SUVs is becoming decent in size, definitely, we have to have one in this segment,” Takeuchi told reporters after the carmaker launched its second mid-size SUV, the Victoris. The Maruti Suzuki MD, however, did not share any timelines for the launch of the company's first premium SUV.

India’s biggest carmaker is not present in the premium SUV space that is dominated by homegrown players like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Today, the Indian SUV market comprises three segments: entry (sub 4-metre), mid-size (4.3 metre) and premium (over 4.5 metre).

Japanese carmaker Maruti Suzuki is the market leader in the entry-SUV segment in terms of volumes with models like Brezza and Fronx, among others.

In the mid-size SUV segment, which contributes around 40% to total SUV sales of 9 lakh units, Maruti Suzuki is not the market leader, says Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki. “Our aspiration is to become the market leader in SUVs,” says Banerjee.

The Maruti Suzuki MD says that the company cannot ignore SUVs. “55% of the market is SUVs. We can’t ignore this market. In order to maintain our leadership position, we have to be number 1 in SUVs,” he says.

The newly launched Victoris will come with multiple powertrains: petrol, mild hybrid, strong hybrid and CNG.

When asked if the new car will aid the company’s stagnant strong hybrid sales, Banerjee says, “Being the market leader, our endeavour is always to serve customers by providing all powertrains and form factors. We need to be technologically-agnostic. We are seeing a good traction in hybrids, but we don’t push a particular technology to our customers,” he says.

The carmaker is counting on the Victoris to strengthen its SUV portfolio. “The SUV contribution (to total sales) is 28% currently. Mid-SUV volume will get much bigger. We are already the market leader in entry SUV,” says Banerjee.

Deliveries of the Victoris will start from September 22 (1st Navratra), subject to the outcome of the GST Council meeting, says Banerjee.

“In Onam, we saw a booking growth of 16%. It did not translate into retails for obvious reasons,” he adds.

Maruti Suzuki’s Takeuchi says the Victoris will be exclusive for Suzuki and there won’t be a rebadged variant of this car from Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Suzuki’s global partner. The carmaker plans to export the Victoris to over 100 countries.