Victoris to further strengthen Maruti Suzuki’s presence in the mid-SUV segment: MD Takeuchi

The Victoris, Maruti Suzuki’s newly launched mid-size SUV, will strengthen India’s largest maker of passenger vehicles in the mid-size SUV segment, CEO and managing director Hisashi Takeuchi said at the launch event on Wednesday.

Takeuchi contextualised that over the past few years, Maurti Suzuki has taken a bullish approach to utility vehicles—which have shown a quantum of growth in the overall market for passenger vehicles—strategically expanding its SUV portfolio. “The results are in front of you. We began by establishing a strong foundation in the entry-SUV segment with models like Brezza and Fronx,” said Takeuchi.

He noted that the SUV contribution to total sales has grown nearly threefold, rising from 8.9% in FY21 to almost 28% in FY25. “Today, we’re taking another big step forward with the Victoris,” he said. According to Takeuchi, the Victoris is designed for a specific target audience—the new-age customer. “The new-age customer is well-travelled, hyper-connected, realistic, and socially aware,” he added.

The Victoris is the first car by Maruti Suzuki to be equipped with Level-2 ADAS with automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, and lane departure prevention, among others. It will also come with six airbags as a standard feature across variants. Victoris has earned a 5-star Bharat NCAP rating.

The Victoris has also been made to cater for Maruti Suzuki’s highly environmentally conscious customers, according to Takeuchi, with multiple powertrain options including strong hybrid and CNG. “In fact, our engineers have intelligently modified the platform to accommodate the CNG tank under the body, allowing more boot space,” Takeuchi added.

The strong hybrid of the Victoris comes fitted with a lithium-ion battery with deep-level localisation, according to Takeuchi. “The start of production of these batteries began recently at our fellow subsidiary TDSG in Gujarat…Very soon, we will begin exports of Victoris to over 100 countries.”

The launch of the Victoris comes at an opportune time for Maruti Suzuki, as the GST Council is set to announce the much-awaited GST rationalisation within a day, which is expected to reduce the GST rate on passenger vehicles. Once implemented, the tax on small petrol cars, which are less than four meters in length and have an engine capacity of less than 1200cc, may be reduced to 18% from the current 28%.

SUVs, however, are expected to be levied with a 40% GST. However, it remains to be seen whether the government reduces the GST on strong hybrid cars, something that Maruti Suzuki and Toyota Kirloskar Motor have been urging the government to do for years.