With Invicto's launch, Maruti Suzuki eyes ₹20-lakh vehicle category segment

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest automobile manufacturer, will be launching Invicto, a three-row strong-hybrid MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) in the premium category segment on July 5, 2023. The bookings of Invicto, which is a cross-badge of Toyota Innova-Hycross, will start from June 19. Though the company has not revealed the price, Invicto will be priced in more than ₹20-lakh category vehicles by Maruti Suzuki. This is the first time Maruti Suzuki will be offering a product greater than ₹20 lakh category vehicle. Invicto will be the highest-priced offering under Maruti Suzuki's portfolio.

"Previously we have been examining whether we should go separately as an MPV or separately as an SUV (sports utility vehicle). But we have seen from our research, consumer sentiments in terms of three-row MPV are similar in terms of design, in terms of their requirement, in terms of spaciousness and in terms of good performance and great features. And that is where this product comes in," says Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director, sales and marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Limited.

At present, the company has Ertiga and XL6 under its MPV portfolio. While Ertiga is priced between ₹8.64 lakh and ₹13.08 lakh, XL6 is priced between ₹11.56 lakh and ₹14.82 lakh. With Invicto, Maruti Suzuki will have the largest portfolio in the MPV segment. "We have also become the market leader in the ₹10-lakh to ₹15-lakh vehicle category with a 26% market share. In the past two months of FY24, we touched a market share of 30% in this category. Hopefully, in the ₹20-lakh category, we would participate in the market share," says Srivastava.

According to Srivastava, in FY23, the company sold 2,68,000 MPV units. Maruti Suzuki plans to clock around 3,00,000 units in MPV sales in FY24. "In the past 10 years the market share of MPV has gone from 6% to 9% in FY23. This year, for the industry, we project the MPV market share to stand at 10% in FY24," Srivastava says.

With Invicto, the company plans to increase its market share in the strong hybrid segment. In FY23, the company sold 40,000 units of strong hybrid vehicles. In the first two months of FY24, the company sold 11,000 units of strong hybrid vehicles.

Maruti Suzuki was once touted to be a leader in the mass market segment, offering products with lower prices. However, in the past several quarters, the company has been focusing on delivering premium category products. Srivastava attributes an increase in commodity prices, which in turn has pushed prices upwards as well as regulatory contingencies such as compliance with the BS-VI norms to be amongst the major reasons for this shift. An increase in state taxes and an increase in features demand amongst consumers has also added to this shift, according to Srivastava.

"But, there has also been a shift in the segment itself. So hatches have come d0wn from 38% to 34-35% this year. SUVs have climbed up to more than 40% and hence are priced higher than the SUVs and Sedans. That's the reason why price points are going up," Srivastava says.

But as Maruti Suzuki dives into the ₹20-lakh premium category segment, the semiconductor shortage might become a roadblock for the company. Owing to the supply chain constraints, Toyota Kirloskar Motors halted the production of top variants of Innova Hycross in April this year. Invicto will be a rebadged version of Innova Hycross.

While the company acknowledged the semiconductor woes to be a challenge, it plans to bifurcate the production of Invicto.